


The Radiant Family

by LeisurelyPanda



Series: Heroes' Reward: A World at Peace [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Anal Sex, Because I can, Body Positive Ike, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Smut, Come Eating, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Kinda?, M/M, Masturbation, Mpreg, Oral Sex, Pregnancy, Pregnant Sex, Priam is Ike and Soren's son, Size Difference, Soren and Ike are in love, Soren thinks he's hideous and Ike assures him that he's not, not really - Freeform, pregnancy kink?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-02-23 21:24:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13198839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeisurelyPanda/pseuds/LeisurelyPanda
Summary: Ike and Soren have been living happily since the Great War ended 7 years ago. They traveled the world for a time. They came home and bought a house. They had a son (on accident). They left the military and pursued peaceful civilian lives. Life is pretty much perfect. And now Soren is ready to have a child again since their lives are settled and secure. Ike is thrilled and the little family set out on their latest adventure in domestic bliss.





	1. Brains and Brawn

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter happens immediately after Santa Baby, so if you're okay with Ike/Soren smut, you might want to start with that. Not necessary, though.
> 
> This chapter is briefly NSFW in the middle.

Christmas morning came in the same way it did every year since Priam was old enough to believe in Santa Claus. With Priam bursting through the door yelling and running and jumping up on the bed and bouncing on the bed.

“SANTA’S BEEN HERE SANTA’S BEEN HERE!” he shouted. “COME ON COME ON GET UP GET UP! IT’S CHRISTMAS MORNING!”

And as soon as he appeared, he was gone. Ike groaned as he buried his face into his pillow. Soren rolled over and cracked his eyes open to look at the time. 6:09. He groaned himself and let his face fall onto the pillow beneath him. He knew how this would play out. Ike, who had inherited that biological defect that caused him to be an early riser would probably get up in a few minutes, trudge downstairs and get the coffee going. Soren would lay in bed for a while longer before Priam would come bursting back into the room demanding that he get up so that could open presents. He would grumble that Christmas morning, wonderful as it was, didn’t start until the sun was up and he was working on his second cup of coffee. Ike would come up and tell Priam to let him sleep and Soren would lounge in bed until the tantalizing smell of coffee roused him.

He rolled over to nestle himself across Ike’s back, letting his lover’s warmth carry him back to sleep. Ike rolled over and wrapped his arms around him and Soren settled his head into the crook of Ike’s neck. He could feel his heart beating gently, his chest rising and falling as he breathed softly. He could feel his hard muscles surrounding him, warm and lazy and protective. He could smell his musky, masculine scent mingling with the scent of sandalwood and pine. True to his word, Ike had kept them up nearly all night ravishing him and by the time he had finished, they were so filthy they had to shower before being able to sleep. 

He was just a bit grateful that Ike’s cock showed 0 interest in sex at the moment. He wasn’t sure he would be capable of having sex with his lover for a while. His ass was still sore. He’d try to disguise any limping today, though there was no way to hide it from Mist when they went over there for Christmas dinner. She always knew, somehow. It had made him very uncomfortable when he and Ike had first begun their relationship. It was difficult for him to trust others and even though she was Ike’s sister, it was difficult for him not to expect her to hate him. It had taken him a while to get to the point where he didn’t care that she knew. 

“We should probably get up,” he heard Ike rumble above him. Soren just groaned in protest and nestled himself deeper in Ike’s arms.

“He’s just going to come bursting in again demanding that we wake up,” he continued. “Just gotta fight through the pain.”

“it’s your fault that we’re in this mess, you know,” Soren mumbled. “I don’t have to do anything until coffee’s ready.”

He felt Ike chuckle rumble in his chest. “I didn’t hear any complaints last night,” he whispered.

Soren hummed in response. There really wasn’t much to say to that. He had certainly enjoyed Ike’s ministrations. Ike was the only person who could ever make him beg and he had made him beg quite a bit last night There was no point in denying that.

“Cocky bastard,” Soren mumbled into his chest. Ike chuckled again.

“Careful,” he murmured, his hands wandering down towards his waist. “You might wake the cocky bastard up. Then where will you be?”

“Nope,” Soren said shimmying away from his warm lover to lay at the other end of the bed. He braced himself before he flung his legs over the side of the bed and got up. He glanced back at his lover who had a smug smile plastered on his face as he openly stared at Soren’s ass.

“No,” he said emphatically. He winced as he walked over to where his pajama pants had been discarded and pulled them on. He also rummaged through his drawers to pull on a sweater. Unlike Ike, Soren didn’t really go around shirtless. He got cold easily, whereas Ike was a hotbox with fire coursing through his veins. He never got cold. He listed as Ike groaned as he got up from the bed.

“Did you see where I put my pants?” he asked.

Soren snorted. “Nope, I was a bit occupied at the time.”

He turned to appreciate Ike’s bare ass, but knew that they should get a move on. Priam was probably growing impatient. Titania claimed that he took after Ike a great deal, and Soren could believe it. The child could never sit still. He loved running around playing games and sports and wrestled with Ike nearly every night to burn off excess energy. Soren was reliant on coffee for energy. He had no idea where his son got that much energy.

“Dad, Papa,” said child called, right on cue. “Stop being gross and get down here!”

Ike huffed in amusement and grabbed a clean pair of underwear and a pair of grey sweatpants.

“Well, let’s not keep him waiting,” Soren yawned. “I’ll get the coffee started. And put a shirt on, it’s cold.”

“Yes, dear,” Ike droned. “It’s not that cold,” he added, grumbling.

Soren rolled his eyes and started tenderly walking down the stairs. _This is probably why Priam is against clothing,_ he thought to himself. He walked into the living room and, sure enough, Ike’s son was on the floor in front of the tree in naught but his underwear. He hadn’t even bothered to get dressed before racing down the stairs to look at the presents Santa had brought last night.

“Priam, put some clothes on,” he said as he walked into the kitchen to the coffee maker. 

“Daaaaaaaaaaaaad,” he whined. “It’s Christmas!”

“Yes, and it’s cold,” Soren countered. “Put some clothes on before you freeze.”

“It’s not that cold!” he complained. “What’s the point of having heating if I have to wear clothes to stay warm?”

Soren rolled his eyes. _Like father, like son,_ he thought.

“Don’t talk back to your dad, Priam,” Ike scolded as he walked into the room. “Go put some clothes on.”

Priam grumbled and trudged up the stairs. Soren smiled in victory and waited patiently for the coffee to start bubbling. Ike leaned against the counter opposite him and they stood in comfortable, companionable silence.

“Can I ask you something?” Ike asked, breaking the moment.

“Sure,” he replied, stifling a yawn.

“Last night, you didn’t want to use protection,” Ike said. “Do you want to have another child?”

 _Direct and to the point as ever,_ Soren thought. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, actually,” he admitted. “What do you think?”

“You know what I think, Soren,” he said softly. He walked across the kitchen and wrapped his arms around him. He looked down lovingly into his eyes. “I like the idea of having a big family, if you’ll have them. As long as you can consent to carry my children, I’m up to do my part For you and for our family.”

“I do, Ike,” he whispered. “I’m ready again.”

Ike kissed his forehead, where the mark of the Branded that had isolated him for so many years lay, tenderly. “I love you, Soren,” he said. “You’re so amazing.”

Soren smiled and rested his head against his chest. Just then Priam returned, wearing some shorts and a t-shirt.

“Eeeewwwww!” he shouted. “I’m gone for 2 minutes and you decide to be gross?”

“Yup!” Ike replied over his shoulder. “Close your eyes, I’m not done.”

Their son groaned as Ike brushed his lips across Soren’s and Soren sighed with content. It lasted a moment before the coffee maker began to ding, announcing that the elixir that sustained Soren’s entire existence was ready to be consumed. Ike kissed him one last time and grabbed the mugs from the cabinet and set them on the counter. 

“Thank you,” Ike whispered in his ear.

“Later,” Soren said.

“Promise?” his lover asked, his voice low and husky.

Soren shoved him away. “You’re insatiable,” he grumbled, grinning.

“You’re one to talk,” Ike said as he pinched his ass. Soren yelped slightly and turned to glare at his lover. Ike was retreating toward the living room, telling Priam that he could open his presents now. Soren rolled his eyes and rubbed his ass as he followed him to witness their son tearing into his presents.  
******************************************************************  
Priam tore into his gifts with gusto. Soren wasn’t sure about some of them, most notably a nerf foam dart gun, which Soren had prepared for by removing all of the breakable objects in the house. He also received a whiffle ball set and a train set. Soren got him a Pokemon game, which was something of a Goddess send as he found that he could get Priam to sit still for exactly 30 minutes while he played the game before he ran off to do something else. 

Then Priam ran over to the couch where Soren was nursing his first cup of coffee and presented him with a gift that was somewhat messily wrapped. Soren moved to unwrap it and Priam enthusiastically helped him in the way children often did. The gift turned out to be a magical tome of some sort. He skimmed through the pages and realized that it was a frivolous tome designed to do things like produce showers of shimmering lights and such. Despite appearances, Soren genuinely enjoyed all kinds of magic. Now that he wasn’t fighting for his life anymore, he especially appreciated frivolous tomes like this one. 

“Thanks Priam,” he said, scooping him up onto the couch to kiss his cheek. He squirmed in his arms in protest, the affectionate game that young boys played, according to the parenting books he’d read.

“Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!” he complained. “Groooooooooosss!”

“Come here, kid,” Ike said, setting their son on his lap. “You wanna watch dad do some magic?”

“Yeah!” Priam exclaimed. He looked at Soren expectantly. Soren took one last sip of his coffee and opened the book. The spells were simple enough and he began to recite the words on the pages. A shower of violet stars began to fly around the room and some formed into the shape of Santa’s sleigh and reindeer. Soren smiled slightly as he saw his son out of the corner of his eye staring up at the display in awe until the last of the stars faded. Priam clapped with delight and Ike leaned forward to kiss his cheek. Which prompted their son to retreat back to the tree. 

He returned quickly to bring Ike his present. Ike opened it with enthusiasm, revealing a movie. Rogue One. Ike was a huge Star Wars fan. It was something to behold, the hero of the Great War watching with childlike wonder at space ships warping through the galaxy at lightspeed and Jedi and Sith fighting with lightsabers and using the Force. 

“Thanks, kid,” he said, pulling him into a big hug. Priam fought him, but Ike pulled him into a headlock and began to nuggie him. Priam yelled and squirmed until Ike relented and let him go. He ran to the tree and got Soren’s present from Ike and brought it over. Soren opened it to reveal a history book about the empresses of Begnion and their history as powerful mages. It was actually really high on the list of books he wanted to read. 

“How did you know?” he asked. 

Ike grinned, obviously pleased that his gift was well received. “You left a tab open on the computer and it looked like something you’d be interested in.”

“I’m going to be gross with you Papa,” he said to their son. “Close your eyes.”

Priam made a disgusted noise and ran off to play with his new train set. Soren rolled his eyes at his son’s antics and leaned over to press a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. Ike wrapped an arm around him as he returned it.

“Thank you,” he said.

“No problem,” Ike replied, pressing another quick kiss to his lips. Soren cut it off and got up before Ike could get too excited. 

“Aww, come on, babe,” he complained playfully. Soren rolled his eyes and kissed him on the lips again. 

“There, happy?” he asked.

“Very. Thank you,” he said, grinning. 

Soren chuckled and got up to fetch his gift to Ike. It took him several years to get the hang of gift giving. Especially for Ike, who was usually content with what he had, and if he wasn’t it was usually something he could build himself. It turned out that he really enjoyed gag gifts. So this year, Soren had gotten him a collection of extra spicy hot sauces. The kind that he would never touch if he planned on having sex in the next few days. He watched as his eyes lit up with excitement.

“Can we take this to Mist’s house today?” he asked with the same enthusiasm that had filled Priam’s eyes moments before.

“Sure, Ike. No problem,” Soren replied. 

Ike jumped up and Soren had a full 3 seconds to brace himself for a wall of muscle embracing him tightly. He groaned as Ike crushed him against his chest. 

“Just leave it off my food,” Soren choked out. “Or else you’re not getting anything tonight.”

He felt Ike’s chest rumble as he chuckled. “You got it,” he said. “Thanks, Soren.”

Soren returned the hug. “Ike,” he whispered.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“… I can’t breathe,” he said.

“Oh. Right,” he said, releasing him. Soren breathed in heavy breaths. “Sorry.”

“If you want to choke me,” he replied. “You have to be good and be patient.”

Ike’s eyes flashed with desire. Soren could see the outline of his dick in his sweatpants starting to appear. He suppressed a smile at the sight. They really didn’t have the time for it. Ike caught him staring at him and grinned.

“Careful now,” he whispered. “You don’t wanna start something you can’t finish.”

Soren’s mouth went dry and he grabbed his book and retreated upstairs. He heard Ike go to the bedroom, likely ot take care of his problem.  
******************************************************************  
Ike dropped his sweatpants to the floor in the bedroom, grabbed his cum rag, and squeezed out some lube onto his hand and gripped his half hard cock. He suppressed a moan as he pumped himself to hardness, imagining Soren on his knees before him. His lips would be swollen from kissing as they wrapped aroudn the head, his tongue darting out to lick over the slit where he would be leaking pre-cum. 

_Shiiiit,_ Ike thought. As he jacked his cock. He could practically see his beautiful lover stretching his mouth to suck on him. Pretty lips swollen around him, his tongue teasing the head and tracing the veins, tears forming at the corners of his beautiful crimson eyes.

His hands would grab the smaller man’s dark hair, pulling him off when he wanted to kiss him, or fucking his throat. He thought of the warm, wet throat swallowing his cock down to the root, staring down into his lover’s eyes, his face buried in his pubic hair as he choked on him 

Soren would emerge, gasping for breath. He would pump his cock with one smaller hand while he caught his breath. He would bend to lick Ike’s balls before letting his tongue trail sensuously up the length of his dick. 

Ike was jacking his cock furiously now. He could feel his orgasm building. He thought of Soren, on his knees worshipping his cock and where he would shoot his load. Soren preferred to swallow, even though he didn’t care for the taste. He claimed he preferred it because it made cleaning up easier. He chuckled to himself. Trust Soren to be practical and thinking ahead even during sex. Ike loved the taste, personally. Soren claimed it was because he tended toward a more plant based diet, whereas Ike was more of a meat and potatoes guy. 

But Ike always liked to cum on his face, with his mouth open to catch any cum that landed there. He loved to imagine Soren’s gorgeous face covered in his seed, in his hair, dribbling down his cheeks or his lips. In face, whenever they had sex with a condom, Ike always liked to tear it off and come on his lover’s body rather than in the condom itself. 

He felt his balls rise. He was going to come soon He focused on Soren’s face, his hand pumping his big cock as Ike came in thick ropes across his awaiting face. 

“Soren,” he moaned reverently. He felt his cock pulse and he groaned as he came, come shooting out onto the towel beneath him before dribbling over his fingers as he milked his cock through his climax. He brought his fingers to his lips and licked his cum experimentally. It was bitter. And salty. Not as appealing as Soren’s cum, but he didn’t exactly dislike the taste. He grabbed his cum rag and wiped up the mess and stashed the supplies before pulling his pants up and walking out of the room.  
******************************************************************  
Priam was playing with his train set with Soren. He was helping him to set up the tracks. Ike stopped to lean against the doorway as he watched his boyfriend and his son on the floor. His heart swelled with love. Priam inherited Soren’s dark, almost black hair and Ike’s blue eyes. He had also inherited Soren’s angular face and Ike’s broad frame. 

Titania claimed that Priam was exactly like Ike when he was that age. Impulsive, energetic, and never able to focus on something for more than 5 minutes. Except, Pokemon, apparently. He had taken to wrestling with him at night in order to tire him out so he would actually go to bed when he was supposed to. So many people who knew him wondered how he and Soren were related at all.

But watching his two favorite people in the world on the floor setting up trains, it was the most obvious thing in the world. They weren’t actually setting up the trains. Priam was asking his dad how trains worked and listening with rapt attention to Soren’s explanations that Ike frankly had difficulty following. This was a regular occurrence. Priam was born with a natural curiosity about the world. He was constantly asking questions that Ike didn’t even know how to begin answering, like how birds fly or how the radio works or why strawberries had seeds on the outside instead of the inside or why Dad was small and skinny and Papa was big and strong and which one he was going to be when he grew up. Soren never missed a beat.

 _Perks of being a tenured professor at Melior National University,_ Ike thought. _It’s natural for kids to think that their parents know everything, but Soren actually might._

“What are you doing over there?” Soren asked, interrupting his musings.

“Listening,” he replied.

Soren gave him that, I-have-known-you-way-too-long-for-you-to-try-to-fool-me, look. Ike sighed, caught.

“Fine,” he said. “I was thinking about how similar you two are and how I’m the only one who can see it.”

He grinned in triumph as he watched a blush bloom on his lover’s face. _He’s so beautiful when he blushes,_ he thought. This was another thing people missed. Everyone assumed Soren was emotionless, cold, and uncaring. But Ike knew better. Soren cared. Deeply. Felt deeply. He just tended to be more guarded around everyone but his family. 

_Family,_ Ike thought as he walked over to where his lover and son were sitting on the floor. _That’s what we are. What an amazing thing._


	2. Wholesome Family Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the Christmas family dinner. Hi-jinks ensue.

“Hey Papa, when are we going to Uncle Blockhead’s house?” Priam asked. 

Ike looked at Soren who pointedly avoided him by taking a long sip from his coffee mug. He didn’t react, aside from that, though, so Ike assumed that he was responsible for Priam’s… moniker for his only uncle.

“His name is Boyd, not Blockhead,” Ike replied. “And we’re going around noon, so you need to get something warmer on than your shorts eventually.”

Their son groaned and Ike rolled his eyes. _Where does he get this aversion to actual clothes?_ he wondered. _Goddess knows I got used to wearing combat gear and Soren wore all those mage robes. Why does he hate clothes?_

“Is Elena going to be there?” he asked. 

“Unless something has happened in the week since we were there last,” Soren said. “I assume your cousin will be there.”

“Can I bring my nerf gun?” he asked. 

“No,” Soren replied, while Ike simultaneously said, “Sure.”

They looked at each other for a moment while Priam waited expectantly. It was rare for them to disagree. It wasn’t huge or anything, though Ike didn’t see any problem with Priam taking his present to Mist’s house to play with her daughter. 

“What could possibly go wrong?” Ike said.

“Just because you said that,” Soren said. “Priam will probably blow something up with that thing. Just like you did.”

“Come on,” Ike said. “When have I ever blown something up by shooting it?”

“I have a list,” Soren said, pulling out his phone. “It’s alphabetized.”

“Wait, really?” Ike said, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Can I see it?”

“You’re impossible!” Soren declared. “Besides, how long do you think you’ll stay in Mist’s good graces if he breaks something?”

“Have you seen who she’s married to?” Ike countered. “Boyd broke half a dozen vases this year. And he’s getting better!”

“And I’m sure Mist would like to keep it that way,” he replied. “Besides, Mist and Oscar will be the ones cooking and if we break something, she can always ask Oscar to leave the kitchen and take the day off. And your yearly sampling of Oscar’s food will be postponed until next year.”

Ike promptly turned to his son and braced himself to dash his hopes.

“You can’t take the nerf thing to Mist’s house,” he said. 

“But Uncle Blockhead gets to break stuff all the time!” he protested. “And Oscar’s husband Kieran practically shoots himself whenever he goes to the firing range! I promise I won’t shoot anything with it!”

“Kieran isn’t someone you should look up to in that regard,” Soren said.

“The answer is no, Priam,” Ike said. “Now come on, we have to leave in a couple hours and you need to look decent.”

“Awww,” he whined. “Does that mean I have to take a bath? Do I have to wear that sweater vest?”

“Yes, you need to take a bath,” Soren replied, looking over the brim of the book he was reading. “No, you don’t have to wear a sweater vest. You could always wear the suit I got you, instead.”

“The sweater vest is fine!” Priam amended. He ran up the stairs before Soren could say anything more on the subject. Ike chuckled at how quickly their son shifted moods. He got a flair for the dramatic from someone, but neither of them could figure out where. He quietly wondered if he should make all three of them wear suits and if Ike was actually in the mood to wear one. Not that Ike was against them, but he was definitely less comfortable in them than Soren was. Of course, if the way Ike looked at him in a suit was anything to go by, he probably wouldn't mind that much.

 _We’ll see,_ he thought. For now, he headed into the master bathroom so he could help their son get ready.  
******************************************************************  
Soren emerged from giving Priam a bath a bit regretful that they didn’t have time for the usual bath time fun. Instead, it had been quick and thorough, making sure the squirming child was clean for the family get together coming up. He tiptoed around the toys strewn across the floor to get to the closet. Not for the first time since their child moved from the crib to a bed he wondered how his son’s room managed to get so messy after he got him to clean his room just a couple of days ago. He rummaged through Priam’s closet until he found the suit and dress pants. It was relatively simple. A jacket, white button-up shirt, and simple black pants. There was also a dark green bowtie hanging around the collar. He laid out the clothes on Priam’s bed.

“Dad, you said I didn’t have to wear the suit!” he protested.

“I changed my mind,” Soren replied.

“But whyyyyyy?” he demanded. “I don’t wanna wear it…”

“Because you look handsome in it,” he replied, kneeling down in front of him to put the white, long-sleeved t-shirt on. Priam grumbled as he let his dad dress him. “And because I only ask you to dress this way once a year, so stop complaining.”

Priam suddenly got up and ran away, his shirt only half on his head as he laughed. He darted away with Soren staring after him, holding the button-up shirt before him.

“Priam!” Soren shouted after him. He got up to chase after him when Ike showed up carrying their son slung over his shoulder. He was wriggling around, thumping his tiny arms on Ike’s back and kicking his legs to no avail. Ike deposited the squirming child on the floor and kicked the door closed. Then he sat down in front of the door to ensure that he couldn’t escape again. 

“Mind your dad, Priam,” Ike scolded. Priam looked down and blushed as he was chastised. “This isn’t the time for playing around. The sooner you’re dressed, the sooner we can get going and the sooner you can play with Elena.”

“You’re no fun,” he replied.

“Yup, that’s us,” his Papa replied. “Boring old adults. No fun at all. Now get dressed.”

Soren gave a slight, triumphant smile and coaxed the shirt onto the child’s body. He couldn’t imagine doing this, raising a child, without his partner.

“Papa, you’re not wearing a suit, are you?” Priam asked while Soren put his pants on. These would probably be the first to fly off his body as soon as they got home. He claimed that all pants of all textures were always uncomfortable. Soren didn’t understand it.

“Don’t know,” he replied. “Am I wearing a suit, babe?”

 _Oooh I get to choose! I have power!_ Soren thought. “Yes,” he said without hesitation.

“Which one?”

Soren thought for a moment. He and Ike owned a few matching suits, mostly to attend official university events every year. Ike had insisted on getting some when Soren had landed the job as a professor of arcane studies at Melior National University and announced that part of that was attending university functions. He enjoyed basking in Soren’s presence when he was in his element, debating with colleagues, encouraging students, and presenting papers in front of conferences.

“The black one,” he said. “Let’s all go to Mist’s house in matching suits tonight.”

“You heard him, kid,” Ike said. “We’re all wearing suits.”

By now, Soren had managed to get the suit on and get his bowtie set up around his neck. Ike got up and gently took over, tying the bowtie around Priam’s neck.

“I’ve got this,” he said. “You go get ready. I’ll make sure he doesn’t tear his clothes off.”

“Thanks,” Soren said. He ducked quickly out of the room.  
******************************************************************  
An hour later, Ike emerged from the upstairs in his classy, black suit. If Soren were like the countless screaming fangirls who flung themselves at him after the Great War had ended, he would be openly drooling right now. It was a good thing that they had successfully avoided the public eye after the war, otherwise the tabloids would be all over them and people would be fawning over them for months. The fickle nature of fame had eventually found some other juicy topics to dissect. Their relationship was delightfully void of the drama that drew such people in like magpies. Aside from them being gay, there was nothing to entice reporters or tabloids. They didn’t cheat on each other or fight any more than the average couple or appear in commercials or run for office. The world was at peace, and they were living their lives as such. 

They left the house and got Priam strapped into the car. Once they were situated and on the road, Ike reached down with his free hand to lace his fingers together with Soren’s. 

“Do you think we should get a van?” Soren asked as they drove down the road in their neighborhood. It was nice enough. The neighbors were polite, not pesky like Soren had feared when they first moved here. 

“Why? Something wrong with your car or the truck?”

“No,” Soren replied, his voice low. “But if we plan on having more kids, we should probably get a car that we could actually take all the kids in.”

Ike squeezed his hand at the mention of having another child. Soren would lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. Pregnancy wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, even with magic. But he did also like the idea of having Ike’s children.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to get used to being a soccer dad,” he replied.

“Ike you would be the first person to volunteer to be the soccer coach for the local kids team, and you know it,” Soren said, grinning at him. Ike looked at him out of the corner of his eyes and flashed him a grin but said nothing.

“Don’t worry, Papa,” Priam piped up. “I don’t wanna play soccer, so you won’t have ta get a van.”

“Thanks, champ,” Ike said. “What do you wanna play?”

“I wanna wrestle!” he declared. “But not like the ones on tv, they’re fake. I wanna do real wrestling!”

Soren huffed and raised an eyebrow at Ike, who shrugged in response. _I shouldn’t be surprised,_ he thought. _He’s been wrestling with Ike every night for a month now. Maybe he’ll choose something safer in the meantime. Like tennis._

Soren turned the radio on and Christmas carols began to play from one of the local stations. Priam sang a bit off-key and Soren hummed along. They drove along like that until they reached Mist and Boyd’s house. It was a nice, solid home made of beige stone. Inside it was warm and welcoming with redwood floors and beige walls, thanks to Mist are designing. Priam ran off with Elena as soon as they were inside. Ike grabbed the presents from the back of the truck and brought them into the house and set them down under the tree.

“Ike,” Mist said, jumping into his arms to hug him when he had deposited the gifts. “You don’t have to put the presents under the tree! Santa already came.”

“Careful, Mist!” he said, setting her down gently. She was about 5 months pregnant now, and it was beginning to show. Her abdomen was beginning to bulge to accommodate the growing baby inside her. “You shouldn’t exert yourself. And where else am I going to put the presents? That’s what the tree is for.”

“Oh, Ike,” she sighed. “You and Boyd fuss over me more than nannies! I’m pregnant, not an invalid. It’s not like I haven’t done this before.”

“Come on, Mist,” Boyd said appearing from the hallway. “We’re just trying to take care of you.”

“Boyd, the only one in this family who needs taking care of is you,” she retorted. “I’m completely fine taking care of myself, thank you very much. Tell them, Soren, you’ve had a baby.”

Soren cleared his throat and looked at the two brawny, over-protective meat heads. It was true. The last time he had been pregnant, Ike had been reluctant to leave his side for any length of time or let him do anything himself. Of course, that pregnancy had been accidental. He had only discovered it when he had gone to the doctor to find out why his magic was acting up. It had been kind of sweet at first, but after about a week of not being able to do anything himself, it got old.

“She right, you two need to relax,” he said. “She’s in the second trimester, she’s fine.”

“Thank you!” she said. “At least Oscar isn’t unreasonable. And he’s helping me cook!”

With that said, she walked off back to the kitchen to get back to work on the Christmas dinner. Ike and Boyd began to chat about Boyd’s recruits this year and Ike’s work as a contractor. Boyd never left the military like Ike and Soren had, but he didn’t do much fighting anymore. He was a drill sergeant and he inspired fear in his recruits. He loved it, too. 

Ike’s general contracting business was going well. Going to school for that in addition to Soren becoming unexpectedly pregnant had been something of an ordeal, but he had gotten through it and life was about as good as he could imagine it being. Ike turned out to have a knack for building things/running a business. It was both similar and vastly different from commanding soldiers. But considering he had grown up in a military family, it was something of a relief to discover that he was good at something besides war. 

Eventually Boyd got up to check on Oscar’s husband, Kieran, who was generally considered to be dangerous when left alone. That pairing had shocked everyone. The two were more different than Soren and Ike, but their relationship seemed to be solid. At that moment Priam and Elena ran up to the couch where Ike and Soren were sitting. 

“Don’t run in the house, Priam,” Soren said.

“Sorry, dad,” he said quickly before looking at Ike. “Papa, who would win in a wrestling match, you or Uncle Blockhead?”

Ike looked at his lover out of the corner of his eyes. Soren said nothing. It was something of a recurring conversation that they gave up on ages ago. Priam, apparently, had picked up on his habit of referring to Boyd as a blockhead. Soren was never going to hear the end of it if Mist found out. 

“I would win, of course,” Ike said instantly. “Why?”

“Elena said that he said that he could beat you with one hand tied behind his back,” Priam reported.

_Oh no._

Ike looked at his son for a moment, his face unreadable.

“That blockhead’s going down,” he said. He pulled out a head band from his back pocket, a memento from his days in the War. He kept around these days as something of a good luck charm. He stood up, took off his jacket and his tie. Soren sighed. There was no turning back now. 

Ike marched over to his brother-in-law. Soren couldn’t hear what they said but they went outside to the porch where they actually had room. Soren, despite dreading this match, followed them out to watch. He would be lucky if he didn’t have to replace the dress pants. Kieran volunteered to be the judge for the match. They squared off for a moment before they began grappling against each other, trying to get leverage. Priam and Elena cheered for their respective parents. Soon Mist showed up with a healing staff and took her place beside Soren.

“What on earth is going on?” she asked.

“Priam asked Ike if he could beat Boyd in a wrestling match because according to Elena, Boyd said he could beat Ike with one hand tied behind his back,” Soren explained. 

“What am I going to do with that child?” she sighed in exasperation.

“Who? Elena or Boyd?”

“Both, actually,” she replied. 

Ike had Boyd in a headlock now and was trying to flip him over. Boyd was trying to regain lost ground by trying to pull one of Ike’s legs out from under him.

“I’ll pay for any cleaning or repairs if something happens to Ike’s suit,” Mist said apologetically.

“Thanks, but I think we’ll be fine,” Soren replied. “Ike had the sense to take his jacket off.”

“Want to bet how long Boyd lasts against him?” she asked.

“Two more minutes before Ike starts taking this seriously and pins him,” Soren said immediately. 

“Five,” she replied.

“The stakes?” he asked.

“Loser has to take the other’s child for the night to give the parents some privacy,” she said with a wink. Soren felt his cheeks heat. He blamed it on the cold.

“Done,” he said. “We didn’t bring any clothes, though.”

“We have some of his clothes from the last time he was over here,” she said. “He forgot them when you came to pick him up.”

 _Of course he did,_ Soren thought.

Ike was still holding Boyd in the headlock. Boyd was still struggling to try and get knock Ike’s feet out from under him and gain the upper hand. Ike, for all the effort he was exerting in restraining Boyd, didn’t look like he was struggling at all. Sure enough, a minute and a half later Ike flipped Boyd over and pinned him to the floor. He struggled but Ike managed to hold him there with ease until Kieran called the match. 

Ike helped his brother-in-law up and clasped his shoulder, their chests heaving with exertion. 

“Good round, Boyd,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah, you too, Ike,” he replied. His nose was bleeding and crooked from when Ike had slammed him to the floor and Mist went over to chastise her husband while she healed his broken nose. 

“You blockhead,” she muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Boyd. When will you learn?


	3. Merry Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Priam is out of the house for the night. Which means Ike and Soren are gonna have some... quality time together. ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire chapter is NSFW. Be warned.
> 
> Also, this chapter contains: dirty talk, name calling, rough(ish) sex, a bit of power play, and best of all, explicit, enthusiastic consent. But seriously, if any of the first three cause you discomfort/are triggering for you, feel free to skip this chapter. There won't be any plot development in this chapter.

Soren and Ike drove home late that night. Priam had been ecstatic to learn that he was going to stay and sleep over with Elena. Soren had been blushing the whole time from a combination of the champagne from dinner and the conspiratorial wink he’d received from Mist as she handed him his box of leftovers when they left. It was a strange relationship, the two of them. They had little in common, but they seemed to bond over the antics their muscle-head partners and kids got into. It had come as a surprise a couple years ago that Soren found that he liked Ike’s family (yes, even Boyd on occasion). His family.

They were silent as they drove home. Ike drummed his fingers against the wheel in anticipation. Ike looked over at him, his eyes dark, which didn’t help Soren’s blush. He knew Ike liked it when he blushed, but did he have to be so obvious about it? 

“We haven’t even done anything yet, babe,” Ike said, chuckling.

“Shut up.”

“But you’re so pretty when you blush,” Ike teased. “Did Mist figure it out? Was that why you got her to take Priam?”

Soren didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. Ike already knew the answers to the questions he was asking.

“How long is she getting him for anyway?” he asked.

“She mentioned taking the kids out to a movie tomorrow,” Soren admitted.

Ike pulled to a stop at a traffic light and looked at him. “So we get to take our time,” he said in a low, husky voice. Soren shivered at the sound, like he was being caressed down his back. If it was possible for Ike to make him come in his pants just from dirty talk, he’d be almost there. 

“You know what I wanna do first, baby?” he asked. The light turned green. Soren drew in a shaky breath and shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. “I wanna bend you over kitchen table and eat your pretty ass out and make you sing for me ‘til you come all over the table.”

Soren shifted in his seat. They were almost home. Just a few more minutes. 

“You know what I’m gonna do then?” Ike asked, his voice dropping to a whisper. Soren shook his head again. His dick was hard as a rock. He couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t touch Ike without distracting him. Ike couldn’t touch him without leaning over. 

“I’m gonna shove you to the floor and make you feel how hard you make me,” he said. “I’m gonna rub my crotch in your face until you beg me push my cock so far into your pretty mouth that you choke on it.”

“Yes, sir,” Soren whimpered. Ike growled in response and Soren noticed him palming his own erection through his pants. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt smug that he got that reaction from him.

Ike pulled into their driveway a little too fast, a little too eagerly. They didn’t say anything as they walked to the door, but Ike’s hand rested above the curve of Soren’s ass. _Horny bastard must have been thinking about this all day,_ he thought. As soon as they were in the house and the door was closed, Soren pushed him up against the wall and brought down his head and kissed him fiercely. Ike’s arms wrapped around him, coaxing him out of his jacket before tossing it to the floor. Soren moaned as Ike’s mouth descended on his neck, nipping and sucking on the sensitive skin. Suddenly Soren pushed him back up against the wall and palmed his lover’s hard cock through his pants. His eyes looked down at him, his pupils dilated with arousal. His thumb lingered on Soren’s bottom lip, like he was already anticipating fulfilling the promises he made in the car. 

“You know what I’m gonna do, sir?” Soren whispered. Ike’s breath hitched while Soren slowly ran his hands up his tie to take it off. “I’m gonna moan like a slut while you eat my ass on the table.”

With that said, Ike’s hands fell down to cup Soren’s ass. Soren replied by grinding himself against Ike’s hard length, eliciting a groan from his bigger lover.

“I’m gonna swallow your cock while you fuck my face,” he continued, moving to take Ike’s jacket off. He could feel Ike’s heart racing beneath him, yielding control to him, standing still, waiting for him to give him permission to ravish him again. “I’m gonna worship your cock until you come down my throat.”

He rose to kiss his lover and Ike groaned into it, grinding their hips together desperately longing for release. 

“Please, Soren, please,” he moaned.

Soren stood up on his toes to whisper in Ike ear, dragging his body along his lover’s taller, broader, stronger frame. “Take me,” he said. 

The effect was instantaneous. Whatever had been holding Ike back was gone and the words released him like a caged beast. He kissed him with fire and passion and picked up his lover by his thighs. Soren immediately hooked his legs around Ike’s waist as he was manhandled, Ike’s tongue dominating his mouth exploring the familiar terrain, commanding submission. He carried him to the kitchen table where, as promised, he deposited him on the floor in front of him and bent him over the table by his waist. Soren gasped as Ike shoved his pants to the floor, exposing his ass to his lover. 

“Spread your ass for me, slut,” he growled. Soren shivered as he complied. He spread his legs for better leverage and reached back to pull both globes of his ass apart. Ike hummed in appreciation. 

“So pretty,” he murmured as he dragged a calloused thumb over the hole, still loose and raw from last night’s round of enthusiastic fucking. “Such a pretty slut. Look at that pretty hole, all open and used.”

Soren whimpered as Ike teased his hole with one hand and held him down with the other. He tried to push back against Ike’s fingers, but his lover held him firmly in place. He sucked in a breath as he felt Ike’s weight above him shift. The hand on his back slid slowly down the length of his back, over the right side of his ass and the hand pulling it back to settle on his right thigh. His left hand took the place opposite on his left thigh. He heard his lover hum in delight. 

“I’m going to enjoy this,” Ike whispered, his breath caressing Soren’s hole right before he felt the warm, wet tongue lick one long swipe over his hole. Soren moaned, feeling Ike’s bristly facial hair scratching the skin of his ass as his lover ate him out. His tongue teased his hole, licking, lapping, nipping at his hole greedily. Soren threw his head back and moaned Ike’s name.

“That’s right, baby,” he said, coming up for air. “Moan my name. Moan for me, slut.”

“Aaaaaahhhhhaaahhh goddess, Ike,” he moaned. Pushing back against Ike’s face, rutting against the table. “Please…”

“Please what?” he asked, before licking another long swipe over Soren’s hole. 

“Please touch me,” he begged.

“But I am touching you,” he teased, rubbing one of his thumbs over his ass and giving his hole another lick. “And what I’m touching tastes so good.”

Soren gasped as Ike’s tongue entered his ass, wet and nipping at him. He rutted back against him as Ike’s tongue explored the crevice of his ass. He was so hard he ached, his dick pressing into the hard surface of the table. He couldn’t touch it. Ike had his hands on his thighs, holding him in place as Soren rutted back against his face, the only way to get some friction on his dick as he suffered his lover’s ministrations. 

Suddenly Ike dragged his body back until his dick was brought over the edge of the table. He groaned as one of Ike’s hands wrapped around his dick as he was fucked with his tongue. 

“Fuck, Ike,” he moaned. His legs were beginning to tremble as he felt his orgasm building. “Please, please…”

Ike just hummed against his hole, sending vibrations up Soren’s body. He moaned again. Ike came off him breathing heavily.

“Louder, baby,” he said with a squeeze on his cock. “I’ve got you all to myself and I want to hear you sing.” 

Soren complied, throwing his head back again as Ike descended again to lick his hole again. Soren could feel his orgasm coming. He pushed himself back against his lover, trying to make his tongue delve deeper into him. Ike continued to pump his cock leisurely, teasing the slit with a calloused thumb every time he reached the head. 

“Wanna come Ike,” Soren moaned loudly. “Ike please let me come…”

“Mmmm,” Ike hummed against him. “You beg so nice, baby. Come for me.” 

Ike began to stroke him faster as he ate Soren out. Soren arched his back off the table as he pushed himself against his lover. His balls tightened and he moaned loudly as he came, shooting his come onto the floor. His legs trembled as he came down from his orgasm and Ike chuckled.

“Soren,” Ike moaned as he stood. Soren barely had time to register what was happening before Ike pulled him into a heated kiss. He moaned into his mouth as Ike stood and whined when Ike pulled back to unzip his pants. He pulled out his big, hard cock and his mouth went dry. 

“You have a dirty little mouth, baby,” Ike said, stroking his cock. “Why don’t you put it to good use and take care of my… little problem.”

Soren resisted the urge to retort at the “little problem.” Ike was many things, little not being one of them, in any sense. He let Ike shove him to his knees and his mouth watered as he realized that Ike wasn’t going to drop his pants. His cock stood out proudly from the dark fabric of his pants, long and thick and heavy with pre-cum. Soren brought his mouth to the tip and licked the slit, causing Ike to moan and buck his hips against him. Soren opened his mouth, staring up into Ike’s eyes as he wrapped his mouth around Ike’s cock. Ike raised one hand to fist his fingers through his hair. Soren had a split second to brace himself against his lover’s thighs before Ike thrust his cock into Soren’s waiting mouth. He suppressed his gag reflex in time to accommodate his lover’s cock. Ike took both hands and put them on either side of his head and thrust into his throat. 

“Fuuuuck,” he moaned as he bucked his hips into him. “Goddess, your mouth was made to suck my cock.” 

Soren moaned around Ike’s cock. Ike paused in his thrusts to throw his head back. Soren took advantage of the pause to swallow Ike down to the root of his cock. Ike looked down at him, his eyes blown over in lust before Soren was forced to come up for air. He breathed in heavy breaths and coughed briefly before he wrapped his lips around the head of Ike’s cock again. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Ike said in awe. This wasn’t the role. It wasn’t part of the game they were playing. This was real. Ike looked down at him with awe and love and Soren paused from bobbing on his cock for a moment to look up at him. He came off it.

“I love you, Ike,” he said. Ike moved to unstrap his suspenders and shucked his pants to the floor. His cock bounced up against his shirt and he quickly unbuttoned it and tossed it aside. 

“Forget the game,” he said, bringing him up to kiss him. “You’re not my slut, you’re my partner, the father of my child, and I love you. Please, let me make love to you.”

“Yes,” he said immediately. “Take me to bed, Ike.”

Ike picked him up bridal style and carried him up to the bed. When he set him down, Ike kissed him passionately, lovingly. He wrapped his arms around him and Soren sighed into the kiss as he was enveloped in his strong embrace. He wrapped his arms around Ike’s neck and bent to suck on his neck. Ike grunted above him, moving his hands down between them to pump their cocks together. Soren moaned in his lover’s ear and thrust up into his hand, begging Ike for more. More friction, more speed, anything. He needed it, needed him.

Ike leaned over to his end table and fished out the bottle of lube stashed inside. He squeezed out a generous amount onto his hand. He reached back between them and began to stroke their cocks again. Soren raked his nails across Ike’s back as pleasure coursed through his body. 

“Soren, I—” he ground out. “I’m gonna come.”

Soren kissed him and Ike groaned into his mouth and biting his lower lip as his climax wracked through him. Soren followed soon afterwards, groaning through the pleasure of his orgasm and the pain of Ike’s biting. He was vaguely aware of their seed mingling together on his chest. Ike’s kiss gentled as he milked them through their orgasms. Then he rolled over and collapsed on his back, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. Soren rolled over to grab a rag in his end table and wiped them off. 

“So,” Soren said. “I realize that we have plenty of time, but how soon can you be ready again?”

Ike rolled over to look him in the eyes. His thumb brushed over the bruise he had left on his lower lip. “Soon,” he said. “Though I might be… up for it faster if you give me a hand.”

“Why do I always have to do all the work?” Soren asked in mock offense.

“Don’t worry,” Ike said, grinning. “I’ve got some ideas.”

He leaned down and took Soren’s dick in his mouth. Soren arched his back as Ike’s tongue swirled around the head of his dick. Ike pressed a finger to his hole and it entered him easily. Soon he found Soren’s prostate and Soren moaned as he felt Ike brush against it, his dick starting to harden in Ike’s mouth. Ike popped off his dick to take one of his balls into his mouth, teasing him with his tongue. He added a second finger and began to fuck his smaller lover with them, brushing slowly against Soren’s prostate and sending jolts of pleasure through his body.

“Ike—Ike please,” he moaned. He was hard again. He was getting impatient, too. All night he had been waiting for this and his lover was taking his sweet time with it.

“I could listen to you moan my name all day,” Ike whispered against him before running one slow, sensuous lick on the length of Soren’s dick. 

“Thought we weren’t playing the game anymore,” Soren said.

“I’m not playing it’s the truth,” he protested, curling his fingers inside him to brush against his prostate again. He smiled as Soren moaned again, arching up onto the bed. “And what’s the point of sex if we can’t have a little fun?”

Soren’s reply was cut off by Ike flipping him over effortlessly onto his stomach. He half expected Ike to start eating him out again and he shivered in anticipation. Instead, he felt the head of Ike’s cock pressing against his hole as Ike lubed it up. 

“I’m gonna fill you up, Soren,” he whispered into his ear. “I’m gonna shove my fat cock so far into your ass you won’t want to sit for days.”

Soren felt the head pressing up against him more earnestly now, but it didn’t breach him yet.

“Course, you could always just sit on my cock,” Ike said. “Would you like that, sitting in my lap all day, your ass full of me, fucking you all day, stretching your pretty hole around me, bouncing your tight ass on my cock?”

Soren shivered and pushed back against him. “Please... Ike, please,” he whined. 

“It’d be worth it, you know,” he said with such tenderness, so different from the rough and dirty talk a moment before. “To hear you moan my name, to show you how much I love you, how much I love being by your side.”

“Ike,” Soren said, rolling over beneath him. He brought him down into a heated, needy, desperate kiss and groaned as Ike realigned himself to his hole and, finally, breeched him again. He bit down on Ike’s lip as he felt Ike slide into him easily, hitting his prostate as he pushed in until he was settled fully inside his lover. Soren fell back against the bed, breathing heavily. 

“You good, Soren?” he asked. 

“Mmm…” Soren replied. “I am now.” 

Ike chuckled and began to roll his hips, rocking into him and Soren clenched the sheets beneath him as Ike moved inside him. It was amazing. It burned and hurt in all the right ways and every thrust hit his prostate and he couldn’t help but moan loudly as Ike fucked him. Ike leaned down and crashed their lips together, moaning wantonly into his mouth as he quickened his pace, his hips smacking against his lover. Soren arched into the embrace and clung to him. They were a tangle of limbs and sweat and moaning and Soren’s head fell back as Ike thrust into him sharply.

“Goddess, Soren,” Ike moaned. He leaned his head down to suck at his lover’s collarbone and Soren arched into the touch. Ike reached up with one hand to pull his hair back, exposing his neck. Soren whined at the beautiful pain. They would leave dark purple bruises later. He didn’t care. He felt Ike’s thrust quicken, slamming into him with such force that he knew he must be close. 

“Ike—Ike please…” Soren chanted. He was close, he could tell that vaguely through the fog of lust and pleasure that overwhelmed his senses. 

Ike straightened and grabbed his hips to thrust in sharply. He began to moan incoherently and Soren wrapped his legs around Ike’s hips.

“Soren, Soren, I’m so close,” Ike ground out. A moment later Soren felt himself come, his seed shooting out onto his stomach, his ass tightening around Ike’s cock as he came. 

Ike groaned as his thrusts became erratic and Soren felt his cock pulse inside him before his lover came deep inside him with hot spurts. Ike fell against him and propped himself up with an arm above him. He gasped as he caught his breath before he rolled over to collapse next to Soren. Soren groaned as his cock slipped out of him. He rolled over to rest his head on Ike’s chest. 

“Shit,” Ike whispered. “That was… damn…”

Soren was still collecting himself. He couldn’t do anything but let his fingers dance over Ike’s skin. He didn’t realize that he hadn’t replied until Ike shifted to look at him, concern and worry in his eyes. 

“I didn’t hurt you, did I? Are you okay?” he asked.

“No, Ike—no, you were great,” Soren said. “I’m just… overwhelmed. It was amazing.”

Ike looked down at him for a moment longer before he kissed his forehead over the brand. Soren closed his eyes and wrapped his arms gently around his lover, savoring the intimacy. 

“I love you,” he whispered. 

“I know, Ike,” Soren replied. “I love you, too. And I’m fine, I promise.”

“I’m glad,” he said. “And I’d ask how soon you can be ready, but I think I need a nap after that.”

“You’re so old,” Soren joked.

“I know,” Ike said, yawning. “You could call me ‘daddy’ and everything.”

Soren took a pillow and hit his lover over the face with it. Ike laughed and took down the pillow to look at his lover. 

“Ew. Don’t be gross, Ike,” he said through a grin. 

“Don’t worry, I’d really like for you to share my bed again,” he said, laughing. 

“Your bed? This is my bed,” Soren said rolling over and wrapping his arms around a pillow. “Go sleep on the couch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was fun. Let me know what y'all think! Kudos, comments, and offers of book contracts are always appreciated! :D


	4. Domesticity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Priam asks some difficult questions, because kids always ask difficult questions. Ike and Soren have some spontaneous quality time later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last portion of this chapter is NSFW.

Soren frequently forgot that his students weren’t actually that much younger than him. Especially when it came to freshmen. Teaching magical theory to freshmen, most of whom were amateur mages with mediocre magical talent, often became an exercise in reflecting on how best to explain something he was intimately familiar with to people who had no idea what they were doing. He didn’t dislike teaching the class per se. He enjoyed the challenge. But it was frustrating.

Soren took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes at his home office. The spring semester was up and running and he was just finishing reviewing an assignment submitted by a freshman who almost certainly would be kicked from the program. His grasp on how to coax the spirits of the magical ether into the world to perform magic was… frankly ludicrous. He looked at the clock on his desk idly. It was almost 7:00. He’d been grading assignments all afternoon. Past time to put down his work and spend time with his family.

He walked down the stairs to see Priam and Ike locked in an arm wrestle. He smiled. _I wonder if he’ll pretend to lose this time or let him struggle. That child is going to try to do every sport out there, I can see it now._

In the weeks since Christmas, Priam had decided that wrestling was his favorite, probably because of the match he witnessed between his papa and uncle. But he had also decided that baseball was his other favorite after playing some whiffle ball with his extended family. Boyd had tried to show him how to throw a fastball and Priam had practiced for hours until he got it. Then, of course, there was his “other, other” favorite sport: football. Soren didn’t even have to wonder where that came from. Ike was a… vocal fan of the Melior Wyverns. 

“Papa?” Priam asked as he tried to move Ike’s forearm. With both hands. And most of his body. Unsuccessfully.

“Yeah, champ?”

“How did you get to be so strong?” he asked. Soren smiled as he felt his heart melt. His son was objectively the most adorable kid on the planet.

“Simple, really,” Ike said. “I ate my vegetables and I exercised every day. When I became a teenager, I started working out my upper body with weight training.”

Soren suppressed a laugh. Ike had practically started eating vegetables once Priam was born. Before then, he didn’t care for them. Ever. He still didn’t. He loved eating meat and starches, mostly potatoes and rice. The spicier the better. The only reason he ate fruit and vegetables at all these days was to set a good example for Priam. Not that it worked. 

“But Daddy eats lots of vegetables,” he countered, straining against his papa’s arm. “If veggies make you strong, why are you so much stronger than daddy?”

“Who told you I was stronger?” he asked. 

“Well… you are, right?” 

“Depends on what you mean by strong,” Ike said. He easily pinned Priam’s arm to the table as an example. 10 seconds later Priam was rubbing his hand with disappointment. Ike gestured for him to come to his side of the table. He picked him up and set him on his lap.

“Like that. I’m much stronger than you, champ, but that’s because I’m older, bigger, and I’ve had more time to get stronger. It takes time to become strong. Doesn’t matter if you’re strong like me or like you’re strong like Daddy.

“And I could pick up your dad and carry him up the stairs no problem,” he explained, though their son rolled his eyes at the example. “But that just means that my muscles are strong enough to do that. Your dad is one of the most powerful mages in the world. He might look weak, but he’s anything but.”

“But how come he doesn’t do any of that really strong magic anymore?” Priam asked. 

“He doesn’t have to,” Ike said simply. “Just like I don’t go around beating people up just because I can.”

“You beat up Uncle Block— Uncle Boyd on Christmas,” Priam pointed out.

“That was different,” Ike said. “I asked if he wanted to wrestle, he said yes, and I won, of course. But I don’t go around just slamming people to the ground. And your daddy doesn’t go around using really powerful magic because it can get people hurt. He only uses it when he needs to.”

“When will he need to?” Priam asked. 

Ike chuckled and kissed the top of his head before ruffling his hair. “The world is at peace, Priam,” he said. “Hopefully he’ll never have to use that kind of magic again.”  
******************************************************************  
“Enjoying a semester of teaching aspiring geniuses?” Ike asked as he sat down at the couch to watch a tv program with their son. It was Phineas and Ferb, the only kids show that Soren could actually stand to watch. He was eating some leftover salad, as he had completely forgotten to grab dinner earlier. 

“Oh it’s riveting,” Soren said drily. “They’re all going to go off and do great things and graduate in three years and revolutionize the field of magic.”

“You teach geniuses, Daddy?” Priam asked.

“Not really,” he said. “There’s a couple who might not be complete idiots.”

“The burden of being an actual genius,” Ike joked. He leaned in to kiss his cheek. 

Ike still hadn’t shaved. He had apparently picked up on the fact that Soren enjoyed his short, bristly beard. He claimed it was because it was cold and it helped keep his face warm. He kept it neatly trimmed. It suited him.

“If only the only thing I had to worry was if the people I employed were doing their jobs to their client’s specifications,” Soren teased. “So much easier.”

“You’ve never talked to these people,” Ike said, very seriously. “There’s a couple who might not be complete idiots.”

“Aren’t there always?”

“If the people are annoying,” Priam asked. “Why do you do the job?”

Soren and Ike looked at each other, not quite prepared for that kind of question. It was the kind of question employers and schools asked their applicants. It was the kind of question he asked students when they had been in the program for a couple years, what they wanted to do, why they wanted to do this work. He himself hadn’t answered that question in years, thankfully.

“Well…” Ike began. “I suppose I do what I do because I enjoy building things and being in charge of a business. And to take care of my family.” 

“I like doing magical research,” Soren answered. “And as much as I might complain about the students, I do enjoy teaching college kids how to do the same. They might not be geniuses, but many of them are smart. Some them can even become sensible.”

“It just sounds boring,” he said. “Do you have any fun at your jobs?”

“Depends on what you mean by fun,” Ike replied. 

“Games? TV? Do you have toys?” he asked.

“Nope. No one watches tv in my office. They might have some office stuff though to fidget with,” Ike said.

“They probably watch YouTube when business is slow,” Soren said.

“Yeah probably, but as long as I don’t see it, then there’s plausible deniability.”

“Whatever helps you make it through your shift, Ike.”

“Why are you mean to your workers, Papa?”

“I’m not mean,” Ike said. “I’m their boss. If I find out they’re not doing their job, then that’s a problem and then I have to be mean and no one likes that. Not even me.”

“Maybe they wouldn’t watch YouTube if you had board games,” Priam said.

“Sure, champ, I’ll try that,” Ike said with a sly look to his boyfriend. Soren hid his smile in his salad.  
******************************************************************  
“You know what’s weird?” Ike said, yawning. Soren sat down on his side of the bed. It was late and the next day would be an early one. No time for sex.

“What’s that?”

“The last time you got pregnant, it was an accident because we were too horny to remember to use protection,” Ike mused. “Now, I can’t stop wondering how long it’ll take before you’re pregnant again.”

Soren chuckled. He’d been appreciating the irony of it as well. It was kind of annoying, actually. “Well, at least we get to have lots of sex until we succeed,” Soren said. “We both have to do our part.”

Ike hummed in amusement. “Gotta make sacrifices to keep the relationship alive, you know?”

“I know,” Soren droned as he brought the blanket over his body. “I ask soooo much from you.”

“You could make my job easier if you rode me,” Ike said.

Soren looked over at him rolled over to place his hand on Ike’s chest. Ike opened his eyes to look up at his lover. It had been about a week. Schedules were busy. Tomorrow was Friday. They could always wait until tomorrow, right?

“Ike…” he whispered.

Ike propped himself up to get a better angle. He looked at him for a moment before he raised a hand to cup the back of his head and pulled him into a heated kiss. Soren gasped into the kiss and lied back onto the bed. Ike moved to cover him as he deepened the kiss. Soren broke contact and gasped for breath.

“Ike…” he whispered again. Ike moved down to suck on the sensitive skin beneath his ear. Soren resisted the urge to moan. 

“Yeah?” Ike asked. 

“I’m not ready,” he said. 

“What do you mean you’re not ready?” Ike said. Soren looked up at him for a moment without saying anything. Slowly, realization dawned on him. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Ughhh,” Ike said, rolling back onto his side of the bed. “How long will it take for you to be ready?”

“As long as it takes,” Soren said.

“What if we just—”

“No.”

“Oh come on, Soren.”

“Do you remember what happened the last time we had sex in the shower?” Soren asked. 

Ike looked down at the sheets as his face blushed. It was not the most pleasant experiences the two of them had. Memorable, but not at all pleasant. “Yes.”

“I had to get stitches for that,” Soren said. He got up and locked the door, then made his way to the bathroom. “I promise to be as quick as I can.”  
******************************************************************  
Ike had lost track of how long Soren had spent in the bathroom by the time he emerged. His dick was soft again. But as soon as Soren emerged from the bathroom, he felt his heartrate begin to quicken again. Soren leaned against the doorframe, totally naked, one hand resting against his thigh creeping up towards his hard dick. His long, beautiful hair was down, framing his face before cascading down his back. His beautiful, pale skin gracefully stretched before him, his long limbs bare as he walked slowly towards him. By the time he reached the bed, Ike was already half-hard.

“Sorry I took so long,” he whispered. “I tried to be thorough.”

Soren knelt before him on the bed and bent down to press a kiss against Ike’s waiting lips. Ike returned the kiss eagerly. Soren took his and guided it to his opening. It was already ready and lubed and his dick was hard and leaking pre-cum against his forearm. 

_Right. Words,_ Ike thought. _He likes it when I talk. Fuck._

“It’s all right,” he said lamely. His mind was slowly but surely coming awake as his hands began to roam over his lover’s soft skin. He had changed so much since the War. There was a time when they were younger when Soren was almost all skin and bones, with lean muscles from being constantly on the move and fighting for their lives and not much else. And Ike had thought that he was gorgeous then. But life at peace and domestic living turned out to agree with him. He put on weight, especially in his thighs, ass, and abdomen. It was something people said, but Ike felt he could actually say that Soren was more beautiful today than when they had first met.

“Maybe you can make it up to me,” he said, his hand trailing up to rest at the small of his back as he kissed his lover. 

Soren hummed and Ike gently bit his bottom lip and Soren pulled away, gasping. His lips were beginning to look swollen and it brought a smile to his face. 

“How were you thinking?” he asked. 

Ike thought for a moment. If they had the time, like they had during Christmas when they had basically spent all night and day having sex, he would have eaten his ass out. As it was, they were going to be up way later than they had expected. Being up all night wasn’t going to be fun when they had to go to work later. Then a thought occurred to him and he grinned as he leaned in to whisper into his lover’s ear as he stroked his hole with a finger. Soren shivered against him. Ike felt his cock practically jump in excitement.

“I want you to open yourself for me, baby,” he whispered. Soren gasped. “Can you do that for me, love?”

Soren trembled before him as he shifted, bending over in front of him. In the dim light from the bathroom he could see Soren running a slender finger over his tight, pink hole. Ike belatedly realized that Soren had no lube and hastily fished some out of his bedside table. But rather than give it to him, he squeezed out some lube directly onto his hole. He grinned as Soren shivered as the cold lube dripped down his crevice and onto his balls. 

Soren gasped as he gently inserted one, then two fingers into his lubed hole. As he began to stretch himself, Ike slowly began to pump his now fully hard cock, twisting his hand as he reached the head.

 _I should get some toys,_ he thought. _I wonder what he would look like being stretched out by a dildo. I bet it’d be hot._

Soren moaned. His fingers were working themselves in and out, stretching himself slowly. Ike groaned. _I wonder if he hit his prostate. I wonder if I could get him to cum just by fucking him with some toys. Maybe he could suck me off while I fucked him with one._

“Ike,” Soren said. He came back to the moment instantly. “If you’re thinking about putting anything other than your cock in me you can forget about it.”

 _Damn. Caught again._ “Sorry, babe,” he said.

Soren grinned wickedly, looking Ike in the eyes as he slowly inserted a third finger into his slick hole. Ike stared, suddenly ravenous, longing to bury himself in that tight, wet heat, to watch him bounce on his cock. “At least until we’re done here.”

“Promise?” 

“You’re so sappy,” Soren said. “Yes, I promise, you old perv.”

At that moment Soren got up and crawled over Ike and braced himself on his torso as he lined Ike’s cock up to his hole. Ike moaned as he felt his lover rub the head against his wet hole. He quickly squeezed some lube onto his hand and reached back to pump his hand along Ike’s shaft. Ike laid his head back and moaned, his hands squeezing his lover’s ample thighs as they spread over his torso. He squeezed them as Soren twisted his hand expertly over the tip of his cock. 

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Soren began to lower himself onto his cock. Soren was tight after a week of abstinence. Ike tried to savor the feeling of his cock being sheathed inside his lover once again. It took all his restraint not to thrust up into his tight heat, to go fast instead of letting Soren adjust to him. He tried to focus on his face.

His face was flushed with arousal and exertion. He paused as he moaned and Ike squeezed his thighs again as he beheld his lover’s face as his cock brushed against Soren’s prostate. 

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, the words coming unbidden from his mouth. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Soren replied.

“I mean it,” he said firmly, he began to run his hands over Soren’s beautiful, pale legs, down his thighs and over his calves. “I love when your legs wrap around me when I’m fucking your tight ass. I love holding your body against me, bare and sweaty and gorgeous, knowing that of all the men in the world, I’m the only one who gets to see you like this.”

Soren just continued to lower himself on Ike’s cock. Ike moved one hand from him thigh to his side and up to chest to tease one of his sensitive nipples. Soren hissed in a breath and moaned as he teased it. Soren’s legs trembled as he struggled to keep from collapsing fully onto Ike’s cock. Ike grinned as Soren quivered above him, biting his lip to keep his composure as he finally finished lowering himself onto him. Ike hummed as he felt himself fully sheathed inside his lover.

Soren slowly began to ride him and Ike moaned as he watched his lover bounce on his cock, feeling his tight heat around him. He began to move his own hips in rhythm to Soren’s. He began to tease his nipple with one hand as his other hand rested over the curve of his ass. He gave it a rough squeeze and Soren moaned.

“Yeah, that’s it,” he growled, thrusting up into him. “Let me hear you.”

“Ike, aaaaaaaaahhhhhh,” he moaned. “I can’t be too loud.”

“Come closer to me, then,” he replied, thrusting up again. “I want to hear your beautiful voice.”

Soren collapsed against him and Ike wrapped his arms around him as Soren moved against him, fucking himself and moaning into his ear. Ike reached up to pull his hair. Soren’s whine was swallowed by Ike’s lips crashing against his. Soren moved against him, fucking himself on Ike’s cock. Ike moved one hand between him and gripped Soren’s dick tightly. 

“Come on, baby,” Ike whispered, smacking his ass roughly. Soren whined and he smacked his ass again. “Bounce on me. Ride me.”

Soren groaned and braced himself on Ike’s shoulders. Ike pumped his lover’s dick in tandem with his lover’s movements. It was Ike’s turn to groan when he felt Soren tighten around him. Soren began to ride him faster, moaning desperately above him. Ike raised his other hand to pull Soren’s hair the way he knew he loved and shifted his hips to fuck up into him, hitting Soren’s prostate with every thrust. 

“Ike—Ike I’m gonna come,” Soren chanted.

“Come for me, please, baby,” Ike groaned. “Wanna see your face. Please.”

Soren rode him faster and cried softly as he came, his come shooting out onto Ike’s muscular torso. Ike moaned as he felt the warm, sticky seed coating his chest and dribble onto his hand. Soren slumped over him, sated and tired. Ike moved his hands to grip his lover’s hips as he rolled them over, letting his lover rest on the bed as he thrust sharply into him, fucking into him at a quick, brutal pace. Soren arched off the bed and wrapped his legs loosely around him. Ike grinned and moved his hands to grip his thighs. 

“Soren, Soren, Soren,” Ike chanted. He felt his balls rise, his orgasm building in him. He thrust into him and buried himself in his lover’s ass fully as he came in long spurts, groaning out his release, fucking him until he had milked the last drop of his seed into his lover’s hole. He gasped as he stilled himself and groaned as he pulled his soft, spent cock out of him. Soren whined as well at the loss. 

Ike collapsed on the bed beside him. “Sorry I didn’t last that long,” he said. “I’ll go longer next time.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Soren replied, gasping. He stretched out next to him before he fetched a rag from his bedside table and wiped his come off Ike. “We didn’t really have the time to go that long in the first place.”

“I’ll make up for it tomorrow,” Ike promised. He pulled Soren over to rest against him. “If you’re up for it.”

Soren groaned but smiled as he nestled against him and began to drift off to sleep. Ike stayed up a while longer, listening to his partner’s soft snores. He wondered to himself when they would succeed in having another child. He didn’t wonder if it was possible. He knew it was. But whereas Priam had been a happy, if stressful, accident, this time they were being intentional. And he was impatient to grow their family, even though he knew there wasn’t anything more he could do to speed up the process. 

_Maybe I can ask Mist to take Priam tomorrow night,_ he thought. _She would understand. We took Elena a lot when they were trying to get pregnant again._ He ran a hand through his hair idly as he watched him sleep. Eventually, he let his snores carry him off to sleep himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a weakness for Ike with a beard. It's bad.


	5. Early Signs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soren starts to experience some early signs of pregnancy. Magic is weird and it's getting weirder.

Soren awoke one morning a few weeks later and immediately regretted his life choices. He rolled off the bed and hurried to the bathroom and vomited his guts out. Which meant one of two things, considering that it was the middle of winter: One, he could have caught the flu from one of his students or two, well… it was too early to speculate on that possibility. One morning of feeling sick was hardly anything to get excited over. 

He was, however, grateful that Ike, who normally slept like a rock, was up and holding his hair back so it wouldn’t get caught in the deluge spewing from his stomach. Soren’s thanks was drowned out by his stomach clenching again and Soren retching into the toilet. Eventually it died down and Ike rubbed soothing circles into his back. Soren hummed in appreciation as he sat slumped against the cabinet. 

“Can I get you anything?” Ike asked. Thank goodness he didn’t ask something dumb like, _Are you all right?_ He had done that once while Soren was actually sick and he had nearly gotten his head bitten off. That was one thing they fought about after Soren had gotten better.

Soren ran a hand through his hair. He was more tired than anything, aside from the nausea. “Some coffee. Maybe some toast.”

Ike wordlessly left the bathroom and pulled some clean pants on before he went downstairs. Soren debated emailing his classes to tell them that he wouldn’t be coming in today. But that would mean emailing the office, too, and telling the department head that he couldn’t make it in today. Which he didn’t really feel like doing. The department head was something of a workaholic and tended not to understand leaving the office before 8:00 in the evening or nearly every professor’s general aversion to teaching class at 8:00 in the morning. And he could be downright petty, especially when he thought people were slacking.

Soren eventually got up off the floor and grabbed a robe. It was easier than actually getting dressed. He meandered downstairs to see a plate of plain, white toast and a cup of coffee. Ike was at the stove making eggs for himself and Priam. Soren sat down quietly at the table and sipped the coffee. He immediately stared at it. Something wasn’t right.

“Did you do something to the coffee?” he asked Ike. 

“No,” he replied. “It’s the same way you like it every morning. Cream with one sugar.”

“Huh,” Soren said. It wasn’t bad, it was just… off. Different. He couldn’t put his finger on it. 

“Hopefully you’ll be feeling better by the time Priam has his birthday party on Saturday,” Ike said idly.

Soren sighed and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was their son’s birthday. He began to pray silently that it was just stomach flu. Whether he was pregnant or sick, he didn’t want to risk being in bed on his son’s birthday. He looked down at the plate of toast. Not his usual breakfast. He typically had some kind of fruit in cereal with his coffee. But even looking down at the toast he could only bring himself to nibble at it. Eventually he was able to get through one piece of toast and half his coffee. Ike walked over with his plate of eggs and buttered toast and frowned. He checked his forehead with the back of his hand.

“You’re not running a temperature,” he mused. “How are you feeling?”

“A little better,” he admitted. It was true. He did feel marginally better. He was still going to take it easy today if he ended up going to work. Do a quick run through with his classes and let them go early. “Do you mind being the one to wake up Priam today?”

“Sure,” Ike said, swallowing a mouthful of eggs. “Are you going to go into work today?”

“Don’t know. We’ll see how I feel in a bit.”

“You could always play hooky if it turns out to just be a morning thing,” he said. Soren looked at him out of the corner of his eyes as he took another sip of his coffee. It had not improved in flavor.

“Says the guy who owns a business and would fire someone if they pulled that,” he said.

“Yeah, but you don’t work for me,” Ike said, pointing a fork at him. “If you did, I’d never get any work done.”

“Because of my seductive nature and your overwhelming desire to bend me over your desk?”

“I freely admit that I’ve fantasized about you coming into my office for exactly that reason,” Ike said, wiggling his eyebrows at his boyfriend.

“Down boy,” Soren said, rolling his eyes and took another drink of his coffee. If he was going to stay home, he was going to experiment with teas and stuff until he found something he could enjoy. If this was one of the beginning signs of pregnancy and he wasn’t going to enjoy coffee this time around, he was going to figure out what he could eat. There was no way he was going to deal with constant fatigue and be a professor at the same time and not have some way to stay awake during the day. Being a professor was tiring enough with coffee. He couldn't survive without caffeine. 

Ike stood up and kissed the top of his head before he walked off to rouse his son from his slumber. Priam had, so far, taken after Ike when it came to sleeping. That had been wonderful when he started sleeping through the night. Now that he was in school, however, the daily routine of getting up and out the door was something of a chore. Soren hung his head, clinging to his coffee. He felt… excited. Apprehensive. A bit scared, even? It had been some time since he had been pregnant and while he truly felt that he was ready to have a child again, pregnancy was hard at the best of times. 

His nausea died down slowly. A bit too slowly than he was hoping. Eventually he decided that he was going to go to work and give the quick and dirty versions of his lectures and post the PowerPoint with notes on the class website. That would make his job a lot easier. And since ending the class early was his prerogative, he could get away with it as long as he didn’t make a habit of it. Which might be difficult, considering.

_I couldn’t have gotten pregnant in the middle of the semester,_ he thought, scowling into his mug. _If I am pregnant right now, finals week is going to be a blast and a half._

He had finished his first cup of coffee by the time Ike and Priam were downstairs. Priam was tugging irritably at his long sleeve shirt and pants. Winter wasn’t his season. Unless they were in the tropics where it was basically summer year round. The child would never wear warm clothes unless he was forced into them. Coats, gloves, scarves, anything. He hated them all, even going so far as to fake having an allergic reaction isolated specifically on his forearms and calves. 

“Morning daddy,” he said, yawning. “What did you get me for my birthday?”

“A stapler,” he replied. 

“That’s not a birthday present,” he protested.

“It’s not? Well I guess you’ll have to wait until your birthday,” he said.

“But that’s two whole days away!” Priam cried. “Can’t I have my present early?”

“No.” Soren saw Ike grinning out of the corner of his eye at their child’s antics. He couldn’t stand waiting until Christmas or his birthday for presents. They’d had to deal with this just a month and a half ago. At least then they had the Santa excuse. _He’ll learn eventually,_ he thought to himself.

“I need to get dressed if I’m going to get to work on time,” Soren said. “Are you taking him to school or do you want me to?”

“I can take care of it,” Ike replied. “Go get ready, your first class is early today, isn’t it?”

That was true, Tuesdays and Thursdays had his first class at 9:30. Late enough that he had time to wake up but still too early for his liking. He trudged up the steps to throw some clothes on.   
******************************************************************  
Soren arrived at the office later than he would have liked. His nausea was mostly gone, but he had still dragged his feet getting out the door. _I wonder if I can turn around and go back home,_ he thought. _Or I could just work a half day and tell my assistant to take care of my afternoon classes. That could work._

His assistant was a smart, plucky young woman only a couple years younger than himself named Matilda. Which she hated, so everyone called her Mattie. Except her students, who called her Professor. He had been insistent on that. No one called him Soren unless they were a peer. If someone, especially a student, called him anything other than Dr. Konig, he ignored them. Often pointedly. He always chastised them afterwards. His position came with a certain level of prestige and reputation, and he wanted to be addressed as such. 

“Mattie,” he said when he got in. She perked up at hearing her name. She helped him grade assignments, teach on occasion. But as it was her first year as a Graduate Assistant, she had not actually sole teaching responsibilities yet.

“Yes, Dr. Konig?” she asked.

“I need you to take my afternoon classes,” he said. “Can you do that?”

“All of them?” she asked, her eyes lighting up. “Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!”

He went over what all his classes were reviewing that day, which parts of arcane theory to discuss, the fundamental differences between the various magics, among other things. He made sure to tell her to dumb it down to their level, since many of them simply couldn’t understand advanced level information. He left her for his office so she could prepare and so he could go over his own notes for his morning class. 

An hour later he was walking across campus, his coat pulled closely around him and nausea building again. He officially regretted not getting in his car and driving to the building where his class was located. He was also immensely grateful that his assistant was so enthusiastic and excited to take his classes. All he had to do was get through this one class and he could go home and lie on the couch. 

He arrived and as soon as it was time for his class to start, he walked to the door and locked it, leaving any stragglers who hadn’t come on time stuck in the hallway. He was known for this. Good at what he did, a good teacher, but also very strict and generally unsympathetic unless he was in a mood. 

Everything was going fine, until he took out the simple starry tome Priam had gotten him for to demonstrate a point he was making. Namely, that the energies that fueled the magic could be channeled to achieve a variety of effects.

“Even a simple tome,” he explained, “that creates something as frivolous as stars can become a multifaceted tool when given the proper study, power, and imagination.”

He began to read the spell on the page. Normally, this particular spell would simply be used to make stars shine and fly around the room. It was unreliable as a source of light. But he was going to take this spell and put enough magic into it to create a single, stable light source that would last for over an hour. Handy, in the event of a blackout.

Then something went… wrong. Instead of making a single source of light, light flashed violently out from the tome and Soren barely had enough time to shield his eyes before the magic struck. Several of his students shouted as the spell took a strange turn. His eyes shot open and he looked around the room, doing a quick inventory to assess that no one had gotten hurt by his demonstration gone haywire.

“Dr. Konig,” one of his students piped up hesitantly. “You’re… glowing. Really brightly.”

Soren looked down at his hands and discovered that he was, in fact, glowing with a bright purple light, like an indoor ultraviolet light people used to grow plants indoors in the winter. He groaned quietly. This might as well have been all the proof he needed as to whether he was pregnant or not. His magic was starting to go bonkers. By the second trimester, his ability to reliably cast spells would be significantly impaired, requiring greater focus and intentional monitoring to prevent a mishap like this. He had once grown a small maple tree with a healing staff, which had been the impetus to go to the doctor to see what was wrong with his magic. The news had been, well, shocking. By the third trimester, he hadn't been able to use magic at all.

_It could be worse,_ he thought. _The last time this happened it was during my second trimester and I created a small thunderstorm. One of my professors got struck by the lightning._

He smiled slightly at the image of his doctoral professor, Dr. Bastian Fayre, with spikey, electrocuted hair commenting on his “shocking technique.” The man was quick with a pun, that was for sure. 

"Dr. Konig," one of his students squeaked. "Are you okay?"

"I think I'm fine," he replied. "The glow should fade soon. But for now, class dismissed. Remember to post your responses to the reading on the discussion board by midnight."

His students practically raced out of the room. He waited for the glowing to stop before he himself left. No doubt the school would know what happened soon enough. He made a mental note to go to human resources when he got official confirmation. But he'd hold off on that for now. It was probably still early enough in the pregnancy that he could afford to deal with that later. He drove home and went back to bed. Life would make a little bit more sense after he had a nap. In the back of his mind, he couldn’t wait to tell Ike.  
******************************************************************  
Ike walked into the house after picking up Priam from school to find his boyfriend sleeping soundly on the couch. He immediately took off his shoes and looked his son in the eye. He held a finger up to his lips. Priam looked over at the couch and saw his daddy sleeping and nodded. Ike jerked his thumb towards the stairs and Priam quietly took his backpack up the stairs.

Ike walked softly over to his boyfriend’s sleeping form. Stray strands of hair were splayed chaotically across his face. He looked so peaceful. Free from worry and stress. Ike gently picked his torso up and sat down, lowering his head into his lap. Soren groaned in his sleep and rolled over on his side, his face pointed towards his abdomen. Ike gently stroked his hair. He looked so peaceful. Having him sleep, resting his head in his lap, Ike was tempted to lean his head back against the couch cushions and take a nap himself.

The moment was ruined by a crashing sound upstairs. A moment later they heard their son crying. Soren’s eyes flew open and the two of them dashed up the stairs to find Priam lying on the floor clutching his elbow next to an overturned chair. Soren knelt down and quickly checked over their son’s limbs, verifying that nothing was broken or severely damaged. 

“What were you thinking, Priam?!” Ike demanded. “You could have broken your neck!”

“I-I w-wanted to g-get the dart I s-shot out of m-my g-gun,” he sobbed. “B-but it was way up h-high and I-I thought I c-could g-get it.”

“Why didn’t you get one of us?” Soren asked. 

“You were s-sleeping,” he sniffed. “I-I didn’t want to b-bother you.”

“Sweetie, I don’t mind you coming to me,” Soren said, kissing his elbow. It was starting to bruise. It would definitely leave a mark in the morning. “It’s okay to come get us. Don’t stand on top of chairs if you need help.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied. 

“Good,” Ike said. “How many times do we have to tell you this Priam?”

“Ike, it’s okay. He’s fine,” Soren said, looking at him sharply.

“That’s not the point,” Ike replied. “I’ve lost count how many times we’ve told him not to stand on top of chairs and this time he actually hurt himself doing it. Maybe now he’ll listen now that he nearly broke his arm.”

“Ike,” Soren said. “Calm down. It was stupid, but he’s fine.”

Ike released a breath in a hiss and took another, steadying breath. “Yeah,” he said. “I know.” 

He turned around and walked back down the stairs, grabbed, a beer, and flopped down on the couch. 

Upstairs, Priam was uncharacteristically somber. 

“Is Papa mad at me?” he asked meekly.

“Yes,” Soren said. “But mostly he was shaken. You scared him pulling that stunt, young man.”

“But Papa’s so big and strong,” he protested. “He’s not scared of nothing.”

Soren didn’t respond. Priam was probably too young to understand the things they had seen in the war, the things that had haunted their dreams afterwards. With counseling and therapy, they had been able to get through it, to get better. They didn’t talk about it much with him. He knew that Ike had been a soldier, that Soren had joined with him to keep him safe. That was it. He was too young for the rest. 

“You’ll understand when you’re older,” he said softly. “But promise me that you’ll never do this again.”

Priam nodded and held out his pinky. Soren hooked his pinky around his son’s. A child’s promise. _It’ll do for now,_ he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I always figured that a world with magic would probably have additional symptoms when someone gets pregnant. As the story goes on, magic will get less and less reliable. Which should be interesting, at the very least.


	6. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mist offers some moral support to Soren on Priam's birthday. In an unrelated topic, Soren totally has telepathic powers. Ike is a good, if occasionally overeager boyfriend. Also a bit of a goof where Soren is concerned.

Saturday came and Priam was up bright and early ready to go to his birthday party. He had requested that it be at the local roller rink and they had the place booked for a dozen kids and their parents. Many of Priam’s friends were ones he’d made at school or daycare, but at least a few, including his cousin, Elena, were the kids of old war buddies. Thankfully most of the people who had been in the war were in other countries, so it wasn’t as if this was going to be a huge reunion. And none of the major world leaders or their kids were going to show up to this particular party, so that was a relief. 

All in all, this was one of Soren’s worst nightmares. Being in a relatively confined space surrounded by people was incredibly stressful. It was bad enough when he knew them. He was only vaguely familiar with most of the adults. The kids were too busy running around getting their skates on to keep track of who was who. And on top of that, he couldn’t skate. Ike technically could. Badly. But he was determined to grin and bear it for the sake of his son’s birthday. 

Finally, the gaggle of screaming children were skating around the roller rink and Soren could sit down and catch his breath. For now. Mist had brought along a healing staff in the event of an emergency and Soren had brought one in case her more advanced state of pregnancy decided to mess with her magic. She was sitting down in a booth eating nachos watching the kids roll around to the music over the intercom. 

“How’s the pregnancy treating you?” he asked.

She gave him a withering scowl. “It’s the third trimester, Soren,” she said. “My back hurts and I feel like hell. Nachos help.”

He chuckled good naturedly. “At least it’s almost over,” he replied. “Only 2 months to go.”

“It can’t get here fast enough,” she muttered, shoving another cheese-covered nacho in her mouth. “I’m so tired of being pregnant.”

“It’s not a life changing experience that you’ll miss once it’s gone?”

“Ha ha, you’re so funny,” she said, smiling ruefully. “Nacho?”

“No thanks. Nausea,” he said. She nodded and ate it herself. “Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be one of those people who has easy pregnancies? Like, what they did to make the Goddess bless them that way?”

“All I know is that if the Goddess should have blessed anyone, it’s me,” she replied. “I mean, I am a priestess and everything. My back shouldn’t hurt this much.”

Soren laughed. Then looked out across the ring. Ike was making his way around with their son, who was much better than him at roller skating already. Elena was getting the hang of it. She had stopped falling down, anyway. 

“My magic acted up the other day,” he confided in her.

Mist munched on another nacho and said nothing.

“I haven’t had an actual test, though,” he continued.

“Why’s that?” she asked.

“Nervous, I suppose.”

Mist nodded in understanding. He didn’t have to explain. People who had never had a child didn’t quite understand what it was like to 1) have a child or 2) how someone who had had a child already might be nervous to go through it again, even if they wanted to do it. Hell, about 7 months ago their rolls had been reversed. She had been excited/nervous to be pregnant again and he was providing moral support. 

“Have you told Ike, yet?” she asked. 

“Not yet,” he replied. “I don’t really know for sure that I’m pregnant yet.”

“What’s different about this time?” she asked. “If I recall, you told Ike almost immediately when you suspected you were pregnant.”

“It was also a bit of a shock,” he replied. “Priam, as much as I love him, was an accident. I was already two months into my pregnancy with him when I found out. This time, we’re actually trying to have a child.”

“Which makes it different,” she stated. 

“How though?” he asked.

“Well,” she said, wiping her hands off on a napkin. “Priam was a surprise. And as much as you love him, that will always be true. This time you know what’s coming, more or less. So you’re ready, and you want to have this child, but it’s still scary. That sound about right?”

“Yeah pretty much,” he replied.

At that moment a kid started fell and started crying. The two of them looked over at the ring to see one of Priam’s friends on the ground clutching his shin. Ike was there, kneeling on the ground and helping him to his feet. The kid made his way over to the edge of the ring and sat down, one of his parents coming over to console him.

“The ring’s first victim,” Mist said, concealing a smile with a nacho. “Are you going to go out and skate?”

“I don’t know how, and I have an astonishing lack of curiosity,” he replied.

“What if Priam asks you?” she said, smirking.

“Please don’t say that,” he begged, closing his eyes. Mist laughed at him, then abruptly shut up and started scooting towards the edge of the booth.

“Can you help me up?” she asked. “I need to go to the bathroom. Again.”

Soren huffed in amusement as he moved to help her up. As she waddled away to the bathroom, he was left in the awkward situation of being at a party and not really knowing anyone. Aside from his family, who were all roller skating. He suddenly wished that his child had asked to go to a bar like an adult or something so it would be less awkward. He was too sober for small talk. And possibly too pregnant for alcohol. 

He looked at the clock. It was nearly 2:00. Almost time to open presents. After which, people would hopefully start to trickle on home. He bent his head and closed his eyes. He began to massage his face. Only a couple more hours to go.  
******************************************************************  
For the third time in as many days, Soren collapsed on the couch to take a nap as soon as they got home. Ike looked at his partner and scratched his chin thoughtfully. Soren had also thrown up again this morning, barely eaten anything at all at the party, aside from half a piece of cake, and was still not liking coffee. In fact, he had opted for tea this morning instead. It was bizarre. If he was pregnant, it was a lot different from when he had had Priam.

The problem was that he wasn’t sure what to say or do. He obviously wasn’t well. But he didn’t want to impose.

“I can hear you deliberating from here,” Soren said, his voice muffled from his face being shoved into the couch pillow.

“Sorry,” he said, blushing. _One good thing about a beard is that he can’t see my blush as well,_ he thought.

Soren stretched and sat up. “What are you thinking about?”

Ike leaned against the wall opposite his lover. “I was debating whether to ask if you need anything or if you’re feeling alright,” he admitted. “Three days of nausea, sleeping, and strange appetites… I was starting to wonder.”

Soren regarded him for a moment, his face blank. It was something he did that people often misunderstood. They thought he was judging them or something. He was usually just thinking. That he tended to zone out while he was looking at someone was mostly coincidental. 

“There is something you can do,” he said.

“What do you need?” he asked.

“Can you go to the pharmacy and get a few pregnancy tests?” he asked. "I'd go but the idea of having a nap is much more appealing."

Ike’s heart skipped a beat, despite the fact that this shouldn’t be a surprising request. They had been trying to have another child. A lot, actually. But still, for a brief moment Ike’s brain was void of all intelligent thought and he stood there staring at his diminutive boyfriend before his face broke out into a smile.

“Sure, yeah, of course, I’ll be right back, I’m on it,” he rambled. He went to go out the door.

“Ike!” Soren called. He rushed back inside. “Your coat?”

“Right, my coat,” he said. He went over to the rack and grabbed his coat and went outside. He practically ran to the truck and jumped inside. Only once his bare arms had gotten in contact with the cold leather seats did he realize that Soren probably meant that he should put the coat _on._ He shivered as he shoved his arms through the sleeves of his coat and started the car, driving down the street a little faster than was strictly necessary. It took him about 20 minutes to get to the nearest pharmacy and he dashed in the front doors, people jumping out of his way as he mindlessly strode forward.

As soon as he was inside he realized with a tingle of dread that he had no earthly idea where they kept the pregnancy tests. He wandered around aimlessly. He found wine, candy, shirts, magazines, and painkillers, but had not yet found pregnancy tests. He tried to duck quietly behind the shelves to avoid notice. He looked around frantically for the one thing in the entire store that he was there for but was somehow eluding him. 

_Maybe I should have brought Soren with me,_ he thought. _He knows where this stuff is._

Then, as if the Goddess was watching him and decided to take pity on her poor, witless champion, he received a text from his boyfriend. 

It’s in the medical section, it read. _Near the contact solution. Third row from the left, top shelf._

Ike looked around and found that he was about two rows over from where Soren had indicated. Sure enough, there were several varieties of pregnancy tests available for purchase. Ike tried to remember how many Soren had said to get. _One should be enough, right? But he definitely said more than one. How many should I get? Should I get one of each? But they’re a bit pricey… Come on Ike, nothing is too expensive for Soren! One of each it is! I’m such a good boyfriend._

Just then another text came. _Grab 3._

Ike decided he would just text back. 3 of each kind or just 3?

A few minutes later the reply came. _Just 3 will be fine._

Ike breathed a bit of a sigh of relief and walked to the front of the store. The clerk was friendly enough as she rang up the tests. He was just a bit grateful that he wasn’t as easily recognized as he used to be. Fame was overrated. Autographs were overrated. Most overrated of all had been the people who, sometimes literally, threw themselves at him, hoping to... get to know the Goddess's champion a little better. He had felt a perverse sense of satisfaction he came out with Soren and dashed the hopes of his worshipers. His fame dwindled sometime after that, thank the Goddess.

He jumped back in the truck and drove home. Soren was waiting for him, his shoulders shaking in laughter as he lay on his back on the couch. Ike tried scowling at him. It wasn’t really successful. Soren was too cute to scowl at. Especially when he was laughing. Even if he was laughing at him. Which was not uncommon.

“Ike,” he said, wiping a finger across the corner of one of his eyes as he sat up. “What on earth would we do with 3 of each?”

“I don’t know…” he said lamely. “I just figured you’d want to be sure… Or that you might want to… stock up?”

“Goddess, Ike,” Soren said as he got up and retrieved the bag. “How many kids are you planning on having with me?”

“I don’t know,” Ike said grinning. “A small army?”

“Good luck with that,” Soren said. He took the bag and walked up the stairs, turned into the bedroom and closed the door. 

Ike sat down on the couch and decided to watch some football. He found a game that was moderately interesting and began to watch, paying only half attention. He was waiting eagerly for his boyfriend to emerge and announce whether he was pregnant or if they had to keep trying. Not that Ike would mind either way, but he was definitely hoping for one outcome over the other. 

A few minutes stretched by. Ike began daydreaming about what their child would be like. If they would have another boy or whether they would have a girl and how they would take after their dads. He immediately began envisioning a future of having another son, watching his boys wrestle around or both of them ganging up on him trying to take him down and how he would wrangle around on the floor with them. He thought about signing them up for Little League and how Soren was probably right and he would end up being the coach. He imagined his boyfriend in the stands watching his boys play baseball. He wondered how Priam would feel about having a sibling and what it would be like for him.

Then he wondered about what would happen if they had a girl. He suddenly felt a lot more protective. He wondered how he would protect his daughter from the world, what she would be like, how he would even relate to a daughter and whether he could be a good father to a daughter. 

_What are girls even into?_ he wondered. _Horses? Castles? Dragons? Pink? Pink dragons in castles riding horses?_

He’d ask Mist some time. Or maybe Boyd. Boyd would be a bit more sympathetic to his conundrum, being a guy with a daughter and all expecting another daughter. He remembered the first time Mist became pregnant, shortly after Priam was born. Soren had had lots of advice to give, as usual. But Boyd had been talking about how their son would take after him and how much he was looking forward to having a son and teaching him all the things his dad had taught him when he was a boy. And then Mist gave birth to Elena. And the second Boyd had held his daughter for the first time, Ike had seen a look on his face he’d never seen before. It was a mix of awe, wonder, and love, and joy. Like everything he had been dreaming of and looking forward to with a son had vanished into the endless pools of his daughter’s eyes when he held her for the first time. Mist claimed that Boyd lost his free will the moment Elena had been placed in his arms and there were times when Ike was inclined to agree.

_Maybe having a daughter wouldn’t be so bad,_ he thought. 

At that moment, Soren walked into the room and sat down. He was quiet. Ike turned off the tv and looked at him, holding his breath for the verdict. Soren looked up at him, and smiled.

“We’re going to have a baby,” he announced. 

Ike stared down at him. “We’re going to have a baby,” he parroted.

Soren got up and straddled him, taking his face in his hands. “We’re going to have a baby.”

Ike leaned forward to press a gentle, excited kiss against his lover's lips. Soren sighed into his mouth. Ike broke contact after a moment and found his boyfriend beaming as he looked into his eyes. 

“You’re going to be a Papa again,” Soren said softly.

“You’re going to be a Daddy again,” Ike whispered. “Why does this feel so… different from last time?”

“Because we’re ready this time,” Soren said.

“Are you nervous?” Ike asked.

“A little,” Soren said. “Maybe a lot. It’s been a while.”

“We’ll get through it,” Ike said, laying a hand on his cheek. Soren leaned into the touch and Ike stroked his face with his thumb. “You and me. We got this.”

“That’s what I told you when we found out we were having Priam,” he whispered.

_Was it?_ “Guess what?” he asked.

“What?”

“You were right,” he whispered. He pressed his lips gently to his lover’s and he smiled as Soren mewled into his mouth, granting him access to the familiar terrain. He grinned as he seized the opportunity, his tongue thrusting into his mouth and claiming him. Soren arched his back in his lap and Ike gasped as he felt the outline of his lover's hardening dick rubbing against his groin. His cock twitched in interest and suddenly Ike’s hands fell to his lover’s waist and squeezed the ass that was straddling him.

At that very moment, Priam walked into the room.

“Hey Papa have you seen my—GGAAAAAHHH!!” he cried. Soren and Ike practically leaped apart. Soren hastily grabbed a pillow and held it in his lap. Ike did the same. 

“Priam,” he rasped. “What is it?”

Priam had turned around and his hands were over his head, probably covering his eyes.

“WHY DO YOU GUYS HAVE TO BE GROSS ALL THE TIME IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!” Priam ran back up the stairs and slammed the door to his room. Ike winced as he heard it. Slamming doors was one of his pet peeves.

Ike looked at Soren, whose face was now red as a tomato. Ike suspected his face looked pretty similar. The mood had totally been killed.

“That was… bracing,” he said. 

“That’s… certainly a word for it,” Soren replied. 

"Your son is psychic, I swear," he replied. "This probably comes from your side of the family."

"Which side?" he asked. "The laguz side? Just because I'm one of the Branded doesn't mean he's going to be one as well."

Ike cleared his throat. “Anyway, it’s getting late,” he said, getting up. He walked into the kitchen. “Should probably get started on dinner if it’s going to be ready any time soon.”

“What are you making?” Soren asked, following him into the kitchen. 

“Priam’s favorite chicken nuggets,” he replied. “I’ll make it up for you tonight. I’ll even make him go to bed early.”

“On his birthday?” Soren asked. “You’re pure evil.”

“I know,” Ike said, grinning as he got the spices down from the cupboard. “I’m going to be the next bad guy the world has to defeat. Making kids go to bed early so their parents can get nasty in peace.”

Soren rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. 

“Well, if you’re going to make it up to me,” Soren said, whispering against Ike’s lips before he kissed him softly. Ike hummed into the kiss. He felt his cock twitch, no longer hard, but definitely unsatisfied from earlier. “Then I need to take a shower.”

“Hold on,” Ike said as Soren walked away. “You’re just going to leave me like this?!”

Soren turned around looked down and noticed the outline of Ike’s cock beginning to crop up in his jeans. He felt his own dick stir at the sight of his lover needy and uncomfortable. “Yup.”

“I’ll get you for this!”

Soren turned around, his eyes dark. “Promise?”

_Oh Goddess, thank you._ He walked over and cupped his chin, tilting his face so he could look into his beautiful crimson eyes. He backed him up to the wall and then took his slender wrists and held them up, pinning them against the wall above him with one hand. Soren gasped, staring up at him. Ike leaned in to whisper against the shell of his ear.

“I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm evil. Sue me. :P


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Priam's birthday part 2.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second half is NSFW. This chapter also contains handcuffs, so if that's not your thing, skip it.

Soren emerged from his cold shower and shivered. He tried very hard not to think of Ike’s “promise,” the whole reason he needed the cold shower in the first place. He shivered again and dressed himself. He began to throw a sweater on before a thought occurred to him. Instead he put on a long-sleeve t-shirt, walked over to their closet, and got Ike’s red hoodie down from the rack. He was practically swimming in it when he put it on, but it was warm and comfy. He pushed the sleeves up so his hands poked through the holes at the end. He looked down at himself. It was huge! It draped over his body past his hips. He took an experimental whiff. It smelled like him.

 _I’m stealing this,_ he thought. Just for good measure, he took another hoodie and moved it over to his side of the closet. He also threw on a pair of sweatpants because whether the house in general was chilly or just him from the shower, he was cold. He walked down the stairs and smelled the enticing aroma of Ike frying chicken. His stomach rumbled. He sat down on the couch farthest from the kitchen and tried to ignore the smells that went straight to his empty stomach.

He occupied himself with some reading. It was some article about the latest magical research that was moderately interesting, though Soren thought the writers made a few leaps in logic that weren’t necessarily correct. He scribbled some notes in the margins, formulating an argument. He didn’t exactly have the time to start any new research projects. In a few months his magic would be too unreliable to do anything of sufficient academic merit. But he could still read and critique other’s findings. 

At some point he heard Ike walk out of the kitchen and call up the stairs to tell Priam that dinner was ready. He walked into the living room and paused when he saw Soren curled up on his armchair reading. 

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m reading.”

“I meant what are you wearing?”

“Why didn’t you just ask that?” Soren said, smirking. “I’m wearing a hoodie. And sweatpants.”

“Uh-huh,” Ike said, unimpressed.

“You want to know what I’m wearing under the hoodie?” he asked. He saw Ike’s eyes flash with desire and curiosity. “A t-shirt.”

“Awww,” said Ike. “Oh well, maybe next time.” He walked over to him and tugged at the hoodie. “Isn’t this mine?”

“No,” he replied.

“It looks like mine,” Ike insisted. “It’s way too big for you.”

“Well it’s mine now,” Soren said, going back to his article. “I stole it.”

Ike hummed and the sound made Soren shiver. He pulled the hoodie around him and nestled into it and closed his eyes. He breathed in the scent of his boyfriend. It was oddly soothing, comforting, and simultaneously arousing. He heard Ike walk up to him and kiss his temple before walking away. He pulled the hood up over his face as he felt himself blush. 

The smell and sounds of cooking went straight to his stomach. He attempted with some difficulty to focus on the academic articles on his end table. The writers had an… interesting concept of magical theory. Not that it was necessarily wrong or bad, just a bit… formulaic and reductionist. Magic couldn’t be contained or put in a box to be neatly defined. Magic was organic, shifting, morphing, dabbling with the natural world. There were ways to understand it, to channel it into the world. Grimoires and tomes were used to collect ways people had learned to channel magic into the world, but even then it was impossible for everyone to use magic in exactly the same way. It was easy for people, even magical scholars to forget that simple truth.

“Daddy?”

Soren looked up at his son, who had seemingly materialized from thin air. “Yes?”

“Why are you talking to yourself?”

Soren blinked. He hadn’t realized. “Umm… I was arguing with the article,” he said sheepishly.

“Can it argue back?” Priam asked.

“Sort of,” he replied. “Not in the way you would think, though.”

“Then how?”

“It argues by trying to prove the points it’s making,” he replied.

“But Daddy,” Priam protested, climbing into his lap. “That doesn’t make any sense. Is it even fun?”

“I think it’s fun,” Soren said, shifting his son so he could keep reading. 

“Are you weird?” 

“Yes,” he replied. “Probably.”

“It makes you interesting, babe,” Ike said, strolling into the room. “Dinner’s ready. Can you set the table?”

“Sure,” Soren said, setting his academic pursuit aside. “Come on, birthday boy. Give me a hand.”

Dinner was a comical experience. Priam wasn’t a great help at setting the table, covered in bills and papers and knickknacks, and today, Priam’s birthday presents from his friends. Priam desperately wanted to skip the boring family dinner ritual and eat the chicken nuggets and fried potatoes, drown them in ketchup, and watch Star Wars on the couch. Unfortunately for him, Ike, who had actually grown up with a family that had dinner together every night, had made eating dinner on the couch one of the hard rules in the house. He claimed that it was because he hated finding crumbs on the furniture. Soren suspected that both were true. 

Priam also had a truly terrible habit of playing with his food. Especially chicken nuggets. He liked to pretend that the ketchup was blood and that he was a monster of some sort. Dinnertime was a lively event every day. He was getting better about it. Slowly. Soren and Ike had received a few phone calls from Priam’s school for starting food fights in the cafeteria. But as today was his birthday, they decided to allow him to do whatever he wanted with his fried foods, provided that it stayed at the kitchen table. 

“Why ain’t you eating, Daddy?” Priam asked.

“Aren’t, Priam. And I’m not feeling well,” Soren replied. “My tummy’s upset.”

“You should have asked Papa to make chicken soup,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“I’ll get a crockpot going later tonight,” Ike said. “Maybe it’ll help settle your stomach.”  
******************************************************************  
Priam fell asleep on the couch midway through Star Wars episode 5. Ike and Soren kept watching until the credits rolled and Priam stirred, groggily coming to for a brief moment before he fell asleep again. Soren scooped him up into his arms and held him close to him humming happy birthday. 

“Happy birthday, my sweet boy,” he whispered. 

“Do you remember?” Ike said. It was a ridiculous question. Of course he remembered. He gave birth to the child. 

“He was so tiny,” he said, looking at his straight, dark hair. “No hair at all. Just those big, blue eyes. So tiny and precious.”

“I was shaking the first time I held him,” Ike admitted, leaning down to kiss his head. Soren remembered. This big man, who had faced villains and terrors and gods, brought to a trembling mess at the sight of a tiny baby boy.

“I wish he would stop growing,” Soren whispered. “He’s so big now. 6 years old now…”

Behind him, he felt Ike bring him into a gentle embrace, kissing the top of his head. He closed his eyes and held his son a little tighter, just for a moment, remembering holding him when he was a baby. His little boy, now so rambunctious. 

“Come on,” Ike said. “Let’s put him to bed.”

Soren nodded and walked up the stairs gently so as not to wake him. He was snoring. Ike claimed (a ridiculous claim in Soren’s opinion) that he got it from him. Soren didn’t snore. 

They gently put him on the bed and quietly left to go to their own bedroom. Ike sat down on the bed behind him and gently undid his braid. Soren leaned back against his chest once he was finished and Ike held him gently. 

“How you feeling?” he asked.

“A bit sad, a bit happy,” he replied. “A bit excited for the baby.”

“How can I help?”

Soren smiled, suddenly feeling frisky. He turned around to kneel in front of his lover. “Distract me? I believe you mentioned something about a promise earlier?”

He felt Ike smile above him and he was abruptly seized and flipped over on the bed. He rolled over just in time for Ike’s lips to claim his own. Ike’s tongue teased at his lips, demanding entrance. Soren grinned and denied him, up until Ike bit his lower lip roughly and Soren gasped as Ike deepened the kiss. He arched against him as Ike’s hands roamed over his body, pinching his ass, gripping his thighs. Ike broke the kiss for a moment and Soren struggled to catch his breath as Ike pulled his oversized hoodie off his slender body, then pulled his own shirt off. Ike leaned down to whisper into his ear.

“You left me alone while you went off to take care of your problem,” Ike hissed. Soren gasped as Ike lowered his hand to palm his erection through the fabric of his pants. He began to rut himself against him. Ike grunted and took his wrists to pin them up above his head. 

“How does it feel to be helpless?” Ike asked. “To be needy and aroused and not able to do anything about it?”

“What are you talking about?” Soren purred. “That’s what you’re here for, right? To take care of me.”

Ike lowered his mouth from the shell of his ear to suck at his neck. Soren tried to squirm, but Ike held him firmly pinned to the bed. His teeth grazed his skin as he sucked, nipping at the tender flesh until he came off with a chuckle and moved down to his collarbone. Soren’s squirming intensified and Ike mercilessly ignored him as his mouth roamed over the sensitive area, sucking, licking, and nipping as he went. Soren shivered and let loose a high pitch whine as Ike traced the marks he left behind with a calloused finger. 

“So beautiful…” he murmured. Then abruptly he leaned over and fished something out a drawer in his bedside table. It jingled. Soren’s heartrate increased as he suddenly felt cold metal close around his wrists, binding him around one of the columns at the end of the bed.

“There,” Ike said, a smug grin on his face. “That’s for leaving me alone and horny earlier.”

“So this is your revenge?” Soren asked. “Chaining me to the bed while you have your wicked way with me?”

“Oh Soren, baby,” he replied. “My revenge is just getting started. Hope you’re ready.” 

Ike lowered his mouth to latch onto one of his nipples and Soren definitely didn’t whine as his lover took the sensitive flesh in his teeth. Or while he licked it afterwards, sucking on Soren’s second major erogenous zone. Meanwhile his hand teased his other nipple with callused fingers. Soren arched off the bed into Ike’s touch, desperate and needy and hard. 

“Please, please Ike,” he moaned. Ike ignored him and kept at it, his mouth coming off his nipple and migrating to the other one while his other hand began to tease the wet, tender, abused flesh. Again, Soren definitely didn’t whine as pleasure coursed through his body and he wondered if he could come just from Ike teasing his nipples. Ike’s other hand made its way down his clothed thigh to the apex of his legs, where his dick was hard and aching and began to palm him through the fabric of his pants. Soren moaned (not whined) as he rutted against the only source of satisfaction. 

“Ike,” he breathed. Ike came off his nipple and rose to the center of his collarbone, but he still ignored his begging and neediness. “Ike, please I’m gonna cum…”

Ike increased the pace of his rubbing Soren’s hardness. Soren arched into the touch. He felt his balls begin to tighten as his orgasm built. His lover kissed his collarbone, then made his way up his neck, pausing every now and then to nip at the sensitive skin until he reached his lips and Soren laid an open mouthed kiss to Ike’s lips.

“Cum for me baby,” he whispered against his flushed skin. Soren cried out as he came, his pants filling with wet, sticky, seed. He was vaguely aware of Ike humming in satisfaction as he watched him. Through the fog of his orgasm he felt Ike bite his lower lip as he milked his orgasm from him, heedless of the mess he had made. Or maybe that was the point.

“That was hot, baby,” he whispered against him as he began to come down from his climax. Soren didn’t even reply, just gasped for breaths. 

He was immediately aware of the uncomfortable feeling of his pants wet with come. He must have made a face because Ike laughed. Then he flipped him over and brought his legs up to a kneeling position so that his ass was propped up in the air, present itself to his lover. He slowly slid his pants down, exposing his ass to the air, his front still wet with his come. Soren gasped as Ike gripped his ass roughly without warning, massaging the soft flesh before he smacked it. Ike hummed in satisfaction and Soren shivered as he felt his lover’s hot breath caress his skin. 

“You were so pretty, baby,” he whispered against his thighs. Soren moaned and pushed back against his lover. “So pretty when you ruined your pants. Can you feel how hard you made me with that?”

Soren felt Ike’s still clothed hardness press against the curve of his ass. One of Ike’s hands seized some of his hair and pulled back on it. Soren moaned as his head was pulled back. His other hand traced a callused finger over Soren’s hole, sensitive and bare to the world. It pressed against him, not enough to enter, but enough to make him release a wanton moan. 

“Ike—aaaaahhh, Ike please,” he moaned. “Please fuck aaaaaaaaahhhhhh meeee…”

He could practically sense Ike’s answering, devious grin. Most people couldn’t think of Ike as devious. Most imagined him as a gentle and diligent lover. But then, Soren was the one who shared his bed. And it had been that way for a while. But as with all things, their love life changed over time to avoid routine and stagnation. Ike had a beautiful, filthy mind, and he was utterly without shame in the bedroom. It was fantastic!

“Well, since you asked me nicely,” he said softly, like silk dragging across his skin. “I suppose I can fuck you. Maybe if you beg I’ll do it with my cock.”

A bottle of lube was uncapped and Soren gasped as the cold substance was poured directly onto his hole. He felt a finger tease his opening again, pressing against him, before it slowly breached him. Just one finger. _Oh Goddess,_ he thought as he knelt on the bed. He was hard again. He needed release. _He’s going to kill me._ Just that one finger worked in him, fucking into him, brushing across his prostate, but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly. And Ike knew it. 

Soren pushed back against him again, rutting against the hand against his hole. Ike chuckled above him. 

“Needy aren’t you?” he asked. “So desperate to have your pretty hole filled, huh? But you’ll have to be patient.”

Soren groaned and hung his head down beneath his outstretched arms. Before Ike’s other hand brought his head back up with a tug on his hair, anyway. He sobbed. Ike slowly inserted another finger, which his hole easily stretched around to accommodate. He cursed as Ike began to stretch him, slowly fucking him with his fingers, gliding over his prostate to tease him. 

“You fucking tease,” he moaned (not whined). “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“Me? Enjoying torturing my beautiful lover by going as slowly as possible while he’s helpless to do anything about it?” Ike said, angling his fingers to brush directly over Soren’s prostate. Soren moaned and pushed back, begging for more. “That doesn’t sound like me. And if you didn’t make such pretty sounds I wouldn’t torture you like this.”

Soren groaned. Ike fucked him slowly, steadily. If he wasn’t cuffed to the bed, Soren would have… well done something. Ike’s strength could easily overpower him. Like it or not, Soren probably wouldn’t be able to do much if Ike really wanted to take his time like this. His legs began to tremble as Ike brushed past his prostate again, sending pleasure through his body. Without pulling out, Ike rubbed his free hand over the small of his back.

“You okay, baby?” he asked.

“Yes, don’t stop,” Soren replied.

Ike chuckled and inserted a third finger into him and Soren buried his face in the sheets beneath him. There was a slight burn as his hole was stretched. He loved it. His body began to quiver as Ike kept fucking him. He was reduced to a moaning, boneless mess, trembling helplessly as Ike maintained his own, brutally slow pace. He didn’t even bother to push back on him anymore. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Ike whispered above him. His other hand roamed over the expanse of Soren’s back, calloused and rough. Soren propped himself up on his elbows and tried to turn his head to look back at him. He could manage to see him if he turned his head far enough. His eyes were dilated with lust and arousal. It was all he could do to make himself go as slowly as possible. Soren could tell that he wanted to go faster, to plunge into him and fuck him hard and fast. 

“Please…” he whispered. It was barely audible. “Please, please, Ike.”

“Yeah, baby?” he asked. He angled his fingers to stroke over his prostate, making Soren moan.

“Please fuck me,” he begged. “I’ll do anything, please.”

“Anything?” Ike asked. He didn’t relent. “I can think of lots of things. What if I ask you to come to my office to suck me off? Would you do that?”

Soren gasped and nodded. “Yes.”

“What if I ask you to wear a vibrator for a day? Would you do that?”

Soren paused. “Think about it,” Ike continued. “Lecturing in front of your students, then suddenly it buzzes and you have to act like you don’t love it, like nothing’s happening. Then you come home after I drop Priam off for the night at Mist’s and you’re begging me to take you.”

 _Goddess, how does he become so kinky when we’re in bed?_ Soren wondered. He’d never actually ask me to do any of these things, he’d get to flustered just thinking about it.

“Yeah, anything,” he ground out.

Ike grinned and pulled his fingers out slowly. Soren made a high pitch moan as he felt his stretched hole empty. Ike shucked his pants to the floor and uncapped the bottle of lube again. Soren tensed in anticipation of it being poured on his hole again, but it never came. Instead he heard Ike pumping himself before the lubed head of his cock pressed itself to his entrance. He hissed as Ike pressed against him until he was breached, his cock easing into him slowly. It filled him. Soren gripped the pillow beneath his hands as Ike pushed into him.

“Goddess, Soren you’re so tight,” Ike moaned above him. “We just had sex a few days ago, how did you get so tight?”

“Haaaahhh,” Soren breathed. “Magic.”

“That’s some nice magic, babe,” Ike whispered. He bent down to cover him with his body. “Got any more tricks up your sleeve?”

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” he teased. Ike growled into his ear and pushed forward, fully sheathing himself in Soren. Soren gasped at the intrusion and Ike hummed against the shell of his ear. He sighed as Ike kissed his neck as he drew ragged breaths, adjusting to being filled with Ike’s cock. He shivered as Ike released a hot, ragged breath against the shell of his ear. 

“You good, Soren?” he asked.

Soren didn’t say anything but pushed back against Ike in reply. Ike moaned and began to thrust at a steady rhythm, rolling his hips as he gently fucked his smaller lover. Soren pushed back into him in tandem with his thrusts, moaning wantonly as Ike’s cock hit his prostate again and again. Ike grunted, thrusting harder into him and Soren arched his back and cried out softly. 

“You’re so beautiful when you lose control,” Ike whispered into his ear. He delivered another sharp thrust into him and Soren sobbed with pleasure. 

“More, please Ike give me more,” he begged. 

“So greedy,” Ike replied, but he picked up the pace, his flesh slapping against him as he began fucking him faster. Soren gripped the bars at the head of their bed as he was fucked. Then Ike pushed his head down into the pillows beneath him and straightened. Soren turned his head to the side and gasped as Ike fucked him into the mattress. He didn’t speed up or thrust harder, but now Soren’s arms didn’t support him and the only reason his legs didn’t collapse was because Ike was gripping his hips, holding him steady as he fucked into him. Some part of Soren’s logical mind wondered if he would bruise from Ike’s grip. He reveled in being marked by his lover.

He gasped and moaned as Ike buried himself in him again, rolling his hips around as his cock filled him. A sob escaped him. He felt amazing and tears welled up in his eyes through the wonderful pain in his shoulders and Ike’s thrusts. 

“Don’t stop, Ike,” he begged. “Please don’t stop.”

Ike didn’t reply, but he did shift again. He came down and covered him as he thrust into him, grunting and growling into Soren’s ear. Soren began to feel his orgasm building in him. He tried to reach up, to run his hand through Ike’s hair and pull him down over him into a kiss, to whisper against his skin that he was going to come… but he was still cuffed to the bed. 

“Ike, Ike I’m gonna,” he moaned. 

Ike quickened his thrusts, grunting into his ear. Soren cried out softly as he came again, his ass tightening around Ike’s cock inside him as he shot his load onto the sheets beneath him. 

“Fuck Goddess, fuck!” Ike groaned as he released his own orgasm, filling Soren’s hole with hot come. He fucked him through his climax before he collapsed on top of him, gasping for breath. Soren gasped himself, though with Ike’s bulk on top of him, it was considerably harder. Soon Ike realized that he was lying on top of him and rolled off, his soft cock sliding out from his ass. Soren mewled at the loss, at the sensation of come trickling down out of him. 

“Fuck that was great,” Ike said.

“Yeah, it was something else,” Soren agreed. “But do you think you could let me out of these things?”

“No, I lost the key,” Ike said. 

“You asshole,” Soren said, glaring at him. The effect was ruined by his grin. “You better let me out or—”

“Or what?” Ike asked, rolling over and grinning mischievously. “You can’t move. I could just fuck you again whenever I’m up for it. Would you like that?”

 _Oh fuck yes,_ Soren thought. But the rational side of his brain was coming back. “Sure, until our son runs in and jumps on the bed in the morning.”

“Oh shit, right,” Ike said. He rolled over and fished out the key and let him go. Soren immediately rolled over and began massaging his shoulders. Ike turned him on his side and began to rub them for him, his strong, calloused hands soothing the aches from his body.

Soren hummed quietly. Letting the soothing circles Ike was rubbing into him lull him to sleep. Until his stomach growled. Loudly. Ike chuckled. 

“Oh yeah, you skipped dinner,” he said. “You want anything? I think we have some leftover salad from yesterday.”

“I’d really like some chicken nuggets, actually,” he said. 

Ike rolled over and got up, pulling some sweatpants on before he went downstairs to fetch the food. Soren was tempted to roll over and go to sleep, but he knew he wanted food. He groaned as he sat up and grabbed a brush to get the tangles out of his hair. Soon Ike returned with a bowl of salad and a plate of reheated chicken nuggets and Soren was ready to ravish him in appreciation all over again. After he ate, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, kudos, and positive vibes are appreciated! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :D


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